Beneath the Masks
by fanwriter1245
Summary: Dani Molina is a woman living in the Narrows, struggling to make ends meet. When the shy, self-conscious girl is recommended for a job at Wayne Enterprises, she never expected for the infamous playboy to fall for her. Or for her to fall for him in return! But when old enemies resurface and Dani's life is threatened, Bruce just may end up breaking his one rule. BrucexOC
1. The Party

**A/N: Hello all! Well, I'm breaking all kinds of records with this fanfiction! Most amount of pages in Word, most amount of words, largest fandom I've ever posted in, and most chapters! And unlike previous stories where I simply add in a character into the movie, this one is ALL me! Well, you know, as much as fanfiction can be all me...**

**Anyway, I have the whole thing written out and uploaded into the Doc Manager. There are seventeen chapters in total and I will be updating this story every three days.**

**It's taken me a month and a half to write this whole thing and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. If any of you lovely readers want to leave suggestions, I will gladly consider them! When I say suggestions, I mean little things that could be considered a one-shot. Nothing plot-developing because that's all worked out!**

**Many, many, many, MANY thanks to my good friend Will Cloud for helping me SO very much with this story. Nerds unite!**

**The fantastic Will also made the lovely cover photo for this story. I cannot thank him enough for it! :D**

**Here is the very first chapter! :D**

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><p>Bruce Wayne was no ordinary guy. He had an endless supply of money, he was pretty powerful, he wasn't bad when it came to looks, and he was great with the ladies. But that was all just a cover to hide who he became every night: Batman. Avenging his parents' death, he became a vigilante in the night, protecting the innocent and bringing the guilty to justice.<p>

It was difficult living such a double life, but he managed to play the part well.

Bruce had an image to uphold, which he did so by hosting various parties for no specific purpose. That was just the thing the people expected someone rich to do, and he had to live up to their expectations. If he managed to convince the city that he was a playboy with little regard for anything else, and he had certainly done so, no one would ever suspect him of being Batman.

Tonight was one of those meaningless party nights. He walked around and spoke to a few of his guests, though he didn't even know three-fourths of these people.

When he thought he had talked to everyone, he spotted one girl he hadn't even seen yet, much less spoken to. Well, he couldn't have that! Bruce Wayne always talked to every girl at his parties!

"Excuse me," he said as he walked up behind her as she talked to another girl.

She spun around, flustered at the sound of his voice. "Um…hi," she stuttered nervously.

He discreetly looked her up and down. She was wearing a navy blue floor-length dress with a low v-neck cut and a sash of the same color around her waist. Her long dark brown hair was pulled over her left shoulder in a fancy ponytail with little jewels sprinkled throughout it. She must've been only a couple years younger than him.

"I don't believe we've met yet," he said with a smile as he shook her hand. "I'm Bruce Wayne, but you probably already knew that."

"Oh, I'm…um…I'm…"

"Dani," her friend finished for her.

"Right!" she said. "I'm Dani! Well, uh, my name's not Dani. That's a guy name. No, my name's Daniella, which is a girl's name, but people call me Dani for short and have ever since I was young because it just seemed to stick, and…" She put her hands to her forehead. "Oh, I'm rambling again. Sorry, I'm just not used to all of this. I mean, talking to…um, well, people who are just…" She sighed. "Completely outside of my social class."

Whoa, that whole conversation took a sore dive!

"Excuse me," she said as she ran off.

"Hey, wait!" Bruce called.

For a girl in a pair of heels, she got away pretty fast. He finally found her secluded from the rest of the guests in a little hallway.

"Hey," he said as she turned to face him.

"Sorry about that," she apologized. "I just…I can't—I don't really…"

"Just spit it out," he laughed quietly.

She gave him a huge sigh. "I'm the biggest faker here."

_I wouldn't be so sure of that,_ Bruce thought.

"All of this just isn't who I am. An old friend of mine came to me today and said he needed a pretty face to accompany him to this party tonight so he didn't look bad showing up by himself, and he could give me everything that I needed to look the part and pass off as one of them. But I'm not. I'm a girl from the Narrows who can barely afford three meals a day. I have to watch every step I take so I don't get mugged of the ten dollars I've got on me because that's all I've got left! This isn't my world. It's yours. And I don't belong in it."

She ran off once again and when he followed her, he saw her angrily passing the person he assumed had escorted her here.

"I never should've come here," she said to him.

"No, wait, Dani! Dani!"

She left without another word or a glance to anyone. Bruce watched her go and a thought hit him. If she was telling the truth and really did live in the Narrows, she was going back home in the dark dressed like that where criminals sat in waiting. Not to mention, she was feeling emotional which made her more vulnerable.

"Hey, Alfred," Bruce called to his butler. "Keep the guests busy. I have something I need to do."

"Let me guess. You're going after her," he said.

"You got it."

* * *

><p>Tears were coming down Dani's cheeks as much as she tried to hold them back. Not only did she feel uncomfortable that entire night in a place where she didn't fit in, but she had poured out almost her whole life story to none other than Bruce Wayne, who most likely didn't even want to hear the sob story in the first place.<p>

She walked down the street, trying to make it back to her apartment before something bad happened. This was the most dangerous part of Gotham City and she just had to live there.

Suddenly, a hand went over her mouth and she was pulled into a dark alley. Just when she thought this night couldn't get any worse.

"Hey there, pretty lady," a sadistic male voice whispered in her ear as he fingered her neck and waist. "What's a little thing like you doing out here this late at night?"

"Please," she cried. "Please don't hurt me."

"Why don't we have some fun then?"

He roughly spun her around and she saw that three more men had joined the first in the alley. They all started inching towards her with sickening smiles on their faces. She got backed up into the wall as the space between them got smaller and smaller.

Dani started screaming so one of the men took a long piece of cloth and put it around her neck. She began to choke, all oxygen completely cut off. Her fingers clawed at her neck, trying to get the cloth off her, but he just pulled it tighter.

Suddenly, she was no longer restrained and she fell to the ground, coughing and gasping for breath. She turned around to find none other than the Batman fighting with all the men who had attacked her!

It didn't take long for all of them to be on the ground in pain. Batman went over to her and extended his hand. She slowly took it as he helped her off the ground.

"Are you alright?" he asked in a deep, raspy voice.

"Yes," she breathed. "Thank you."

There was a noise and they both turned to find the men getting back up and advancing on them once more.

Batman grabbed Dani's waist and pulled her close to him.

"Hang on."

He took some kind of tool from his belt and suddenly, they were being lifted into the air. Dani threw her arms around his neck to keep from falling to the ground far below. She wanted to scream, but her voice was stolen from her as they climbed higher and higher. They finally made it to the roof of the building he had latched onto, and her feet touched the ground. Immediately, her jelly legs buckled from under her, but Batman caught her before she fell. When she could finally stand again, she put her hands on her forehead and started walking around on the roof.

"Whoa, what just happened? I mean, what just happened?!"

"Just take it easy," he said in that rough voice of his.

"How can I take it easy?! I was almost killed by those freaks!"

"Well, you're safe now." He roughly took her arm and led her over to the fire escape. "When you get down those stairs, can you make it home from there?"

"I think so." She turned to point it out and when she turned back, he was gone. Dani took off her heels, climbed down the fire escape, and ran as fast as she could back to her apartment.

* * *

><p>Bruce quickly changed out of the Batsuit into his regular suit, and booked it back upstairs to his guests, who were sure to get antsy in his absence.<p>

"Master Wayne," Alfred said as he noticed Bruce come up. "Your guests have been asking where you were."

"And what did you tell them?"

"That you were in the restroom."

"For forty-five minutes?"

"I used the excuse that the appetizers did not agree with you."

Bruce groaned and hung his head in his hands. He wanted Alfred to make an excuse for him, but that certainly was not what he wanted everyone to hear.

"The girl? Is she safe?" Alfred asked.

"She is now. Good thing I went after her because, like I predicted, she ended up getting attacked."

"Very good, sir. You should get back to your party. Apologies for the excuse I created."

Bruce had to smile at his butler's kind actions. The truth was he couldn't be angry at Alfred if he wanted to. After his parents' death, Alfred became a fatherly figure to him and helped him with the trials of growing up. "No worries, Alfred. As long as they're off the trail, I'll take anything you give!"


	2. Work Opportunity

Dani awoke her to phone vibrating fiercely. She groaned and rubbed her eyes and checked to see who was calling. She was surprised to find that it was her old grad school professor from a few years back.

"Hello?" she answered, trying not to sound like she had just woken up.

"Hello. Dani?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"Hi, it's Professor Shaw. I was calling to tell you about an exciting opportunity that has come up."

"Alright, what's up?" she asked as she slowly climbed out of bed and went to the kitchen. She wedged the phone between her ear and her shoulder and started making some breakfast for herself. She grabbed a piece of bread and put it in the toaster just for a couple minutes.

"Well, a friend of mine from Wayne Enterprises contacted me and asked me if I knew anyone who could fill a certain position they had open that needed filling as soon as possible."

"Okay."

"The job consists of sitting in at meetings, recording what happens, making spreadsheets as needed, conducting meetings to discuss budgets and other monetary issues, and keeping everything organized overall."

"Sounds easy enough," she said as she took the toast out of the toaster and started to spread some grape jelly on it.

"I thought you'd say that. Which is why I recommended you for the job!"

Dani nearly dropped the toast and the knife she was currently holding. "You did what?"

"I knew right away that you would be perfect for this! I told him all about you and he is looking at trying to hire you. You just need to go in and set up an interview with several people at the company and then they'll get back to you."

"Professor, you are the greatest! I can't believe you did this!"

"Don't thank me! You proved to me that you have what it takes. Good luck!"

"Thank you so much!" She hung up the phone and squealed happily. Perhaps this was her chance to finally make some money and get out of this awful place!

She finished eating and dressed up in a striped blouse with a black jacket over it and black pants. When she looked in the mirror, she frowned as she noticed the purple bruises tainting her neck from the attack. She put some makeup on them and was pleased to see that they were now barely noticeable. After putting her hair up in a tight bun, she smiled at how professional she looked. She walked out and quickly caught a cab before she had a repeat of last night's experiences.

"Wayne Enterprises, please," she told the cab driver.

"You work there or something?"

"I'm hoping to!"

She looked up at the tall skyscraper and had to shield her eyes from the sun to see to the top. Nervously, she entered the building and was directed to the man's office that her professor had spoken about: Mr. Justin Rubel.

When she got to the appropriate floor, she saw that there was a receptionist she had to speak with before seeing Mr. Rubel.

"Hi," she said as she walked up the desk. "I'm here to see a Mr. Rubel."

"Name?" she asked shortly.

"Daniella Molina."

"Have a seat and he'll be right with you."

"Thank you." She sighed and turned to go to the chairs when she heard her name.

"Dani?"

She turned around and saw Bruce approaching her.

"Mr. Wayne? I didn't expect to see you here."

"You didn't expect to see a Wayne at Wayne Enterprises?"

Dani laughed nervously. "Um, well, I mean, I didn't expect to see you on this floor. I mean, you're a busy man and I thought you'd be around somewhere else that's of more importance, or something." She closed her eyes. "Sorry, I'm rambling again."

"I just had some business to take care of. What are you doing here?"

"Well, my professor from grad school recommended me for a position, so I'm here for an interview. But I'm not getting my hopes up. I mean, everyone here has had years of experience, but I've only just got out of grad school."

"Who knows? You'd be surprised at what can happen here," he smiled.

A very attractive man, who she assumed was Mr. Rubel, came out to the waiting area, and called, "Daniella Molina?"

"That's me!" she replied. "Wish me luck!" she said to Bruce.

"You don't need it."

She smiled at him and followed Mr. Rubel down the hallway and into his office to begin the interview. Bruce approached the receptionist desk. "Excuse me, but can you let me know when Mr. Rubel gets out of his meeting? I'd like to have a few words with him."

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><p>Bruce felt strangely attracted to Dani. She was different than other girls he came in contact with. They all immediately tried to flirt with him and acquire his money in any way. This girl seemed nervous around him, but not because he was such a popular and powerful figure around Gotham. She just seemed naturally nervous, like he was just anyone else. He suspected living in the Narrows had something to do with that. He'd seen the bruises on her neck that she tried to cover up. It hurt him to know that she had been so banged up for no reason at all.<p>

He felt the need to help her and do whatever he could for her. He wasn't gonna lie, she was really, really, pretty.

"Mr. Wayne?" Bruce's thoughts were interrupted by the receptionist calling his name with an almost flirtatious tone. "Mr. Rubel can see you now."

"Thank you," he said to the receptionist with a small wink.

He found himself disappointed that Dani must have gone out the other entrance.

"Mr. Wayne, how can I help you?" the man said as he looked up from his desk.

"Hi, I'd like to talk about the woman who just came in here, Dani Molina."

* * *

><p>A couple days later, Dani was scheduled for another interview with a Mr. Lucius Fox. She knew he was the CEO of the company, which made her all the more nervous about the upcoming interview.<p>

As the elevator climbed higher, the butterflies in her stomach got wilder. She stepped out and went to another receptionist in front of his office.

"Hi, I'm here for my interview with Mr. Fox."

The receptionist looked up and smiled at her. Already this was better than her last interview. "Daniella Molina, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Go ahead in! He's ready for you! Good luck!"

"Thanks!"

Dani took a deep breath and opened the door to the man's office. It was huge! She looked around her in awe at just how spacious the place was.

"Miss Daniella Molina, yes?" a man's voice said, bringing her out of her reverie.

She looked in front of her, and there just a few feet away, was the most important man to the company, aside from Bruce Wayne of course. "Yes, sir, that's me. But pretty much everyone calls me Dani."

"Well, Dani, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said as he shook her hand. "Just take a seat here and we'll get started."

Dani smiled as she sat down and tried to conceal just how fast her heart was beating. With that, the interview began.

* * *

><p>"Hello, Ms. Molina?"<p>

"Yes, this is she," Dani answered into her phone.

"This is Justin Rubel from Wayne Enterprises."

Dani's thoughts came to a screeching halt. "Yes, hi, Mr. Rubel! How are you?"

"I'm good. How are you?"

"I'm doing alright!"

"That's good! I have some exciting news for you. The board and I have reviewed your application and your answers to the questions during your interviews. I'm calling to inform you that you've got the job!"

"Are—Are you serious?" Dani exclaimed.

"Yes, ma'am! You're expected to report to me each morning when you arrive for work and I will assign you a job for that day. We will see you at 8:00 on Monday morning."

"Okay. Thank you so much, Mr. Rubel!"

"It's my pleasure! I look forward to working with you!"

Dani hung up the phone in shock. She had just been hired at one of—no, the biggest company in Gotham City. This was the best moment of her life. This would be a great job and the pay was good, which meant she might be finally make a decent living and not have to spend every day worrying about muggers!

On Monday morning, Dani got up three hours early to ensure that she wouldn't be late. After all as the saying went, "Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable!"

She dressed in a nice business jacket with a black pencil skirt and some heels that she could stand in for hours. She once again tied her hair up into a tight professional bun and headed to her new job.

Once she arrived, she ran into Bruce in the lobby. Literally.

"Oh, pardon me, Mr. Wayne!" she said quickly.

"Dani? I take it you got the job."

She smiled broadly. "Yeah, I just got the call a couple days ago, and I'm here to start my first day!"

"Well, I'm glad to have you on board!" he said, shaking her hand.

"Um…I guess I'll be seeing you around!" she waved as she headed to Mr. Rubel's office.

Dani realized her heart was beating pretty fast. Why did Bruce Wayne seem so intent on talking to her? Compared to the girls he usually hung out with, she was plain and ordinary. Was he just being nice? He didn't seem like the person who went out of his way to talk to others.

She pushed those thoughts out of her mind as she walked into Mr. Rubel's office to start her first day as a Wayne Enterprises employee.

Dani knocked on his office door, having no trouble finding it this time. He opened it and smiled at her.

"Dani!" he said as he shook her hand. "We're so glad to have you on board with us!"

"Thank you. I'm glad to be here!"

"Here's what's going to happen. Today is going to be a very easy day. I'm going to give you a tour of the building so you can get acquainted to it and learn your way around the place. Then we'll stop for lunch and I'll answer any questions you may have. When we come back, I'll introduce you to some of the people you'll be working with and the members of the board. Then we'll get you started on the actual work. We'll start you off with some smaller jobs so you can get used to working in a place like this, and then as the weeks go on, you'll start working on bigger things. Check in with me every morning to discuss what your agenda is and then in the evening, you can just clock out. Sound like a plan?"

"Perfect!"

"Alright, well, let's get started!"

Dani's day was filled with walking around the entire building and meeting what felt like a thousand people. When she finally got off, she as eager to go home and crash.

She hadn't run into Bruce for the rest of the day, and she couldn't decide if that was good or bad. If he truly was seeking her out and trying to earn her affection, she was honored but wary. He was so important and she wasn't at all, and he was rich and she wasn't at all. They came from two different worlds. It didn't make sense why he would be even talking to her.

"Dani!" Well, there went that record.

"Hello, Mr. Wayne!"

"How was your first day?"

"Honestly? Exhausting! I think I walked about ten miles and met with a ton of people I'll never remember without ever setting foot outside of the building. I'm ready to go home and call it a night."

"I'm heading out too. Would you like a ride?"

"No, that's fine. I'm just going to call a cab."

"Don't waste your hard earned money. It'll be faster and free if I drive you."

Dani hesitated. She barely knew this man. Was this his ultimate plan to make her feel safe and then attack her in the safety of her own home? Dani forced her odd paranoid thoughts out of her head and agreed to let him drive her home.

She was surprised, but not too surprised, to find that he drove a really nice silver Lamborghini. Dani could only dream of owning a car like that. Or a car at all.

He opened the door for her like a true gentleman and then slid into the driver's seat. "So I'm heading to the Narrows, right?"

Dani smiled awkwardly. "You remember from the party, huh?"

Bruce smiled back at her. "A conversation like that one is hard to forget. I'm not judging!"

He pulled out and began the drive to her home. She pointed out where to go once he got into her neighborhood.

"Hey, thanks for the ride," she said as she hopped out to go into the front entrance.

"No problem!"

She closed the door and headed back up, unable to explain what had really just happened.


	3. Working at Wayne Enterprises

**I'm not sure who the wait is more painful for: you as my readers because you want to know what happens, or me as the writer because I'm so excited for you all to read the next chapter! Still taking any little one-shot suggestions you would like to see in the story ;)**

**Merry Christmas everyone! :D**

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><p>The first few weeks of Dani's job were uneventful. She worked Monday through Friday from 8-5 and did all kinds of different jobs. For the first couple of days, Mr. Rubel guided her through everything she did and acted as her mentor for the job.<p>

Soon she was able to manage work on her own. Sometimes she would sit at a computer for hours and make charts and study the financial aspect of the company. Sometimes she would sit in on meetings with Mr. Rubel to get a feel for how they were run so she could host one herself in the weeks ahead. Sometimes, she would just run errands for other people. Whatever Mr. Rubel asked her to do, she did as efficiently as possible.

There were some days when she saw Bruce several times and other days when she never saw him. It felt like he was flirting with her, but she knew his reputation for being a playboy and was not about to let herself fall into that trap so easily.

At the same time, it felt nice for her to be noticed. She was shy and didn't exactly get around a lot. It was simple little things like giving her a ride that made her feel like her life was actually worth living.

Dani was just heading out for some food when Bruce spotted her.

"How's the job going?"

"Uh, it's going really well. Mostly everyone's pretty nice here."

"_Mostly_ everyone?"

"Um, I mean, there are always those people who aren't the nicest. But I'm not going to say anything. I mean, I don't want anyone to get in trouble."

Bruce chuckled lightly. "But it is going well?"

"Yeah, I'm actually just about to go on my lunch break."

"Would you like some company?"

"You know, uh, maybe some other time. I'm holding my first meeting after my break and I need to go over my notes."

"You're the one hosting that meeting?"

"You're going to be there?" she asked, her heart sinking. Her first meeting and the guy who may or may not have been flirting with her and the most powerful man in the entire city was going to be there to see it.

"How about lunch now? I can help you with your notes and prepare you."

Dani sighed. "Alright, sure."

This was going to be a great hour.

* * *

><p>As uncomfortable as that lunch was, Dani had to admit that Bruce had been really helpful. She felt much more prepared and confident that she wasn't going to put everyone to sleep. And if things really didn't go well, Mr. Rubel would be sitting in to help her in any way.<p>

Dani anxiously waited for the room to fill up as she prepared her notes and the slides on her PowerPoint. Her heart was hammering in her chest. She had never really been good at public speaking. She was that kid in her required Speech class in college who got sick right before she went up to speak.

"Alright, let's get started!" Mr. Rubel said at the front of the room. "This is Dani Molina and she is going to be conducting this meeting for us this afternoon."

There was light applause around the room and then Mr. Rubel took his seat. Dani stared at all of the faces looking up at her and suddenly felt like they were all judging her, waiting for her to screw up.

She froze for a second as her heart began to pound even harder and her mouth went dry as dust. She suddenly forgot everything she was supposed to say.

But then she caught sight of Bruce's face. His look was silently telling her that everything was okay and to just go ahead and start talking. She began to feel much more relaxed and knew exactly what to do.

"Good morning, everyone!" she said brightly as she calmed down. "How are you all doing on this fine afternoon? I've called this meeting to discuss some certain financial issues we've been having. If you'll look at the chart I've made…" She clicked a button on her computer and a chart popped up on the slide with an arrow going further down. "It seems that we've been running into some money problems lately. In order to fix these, I've come up with some solutions that I would like to discuss with all of you and see if we can put some of them into practice to help the company as a whole."

For the next couple of hours, Dani presented her ideas and reasons behind said ideas and then those in the meeting talked them over with her and with each other. Some of her ideas seemed like a good plan for the future, while others took more resources that they didn't quite have access to yet and therefore, had to discard them.

When the meeting adjourned, Dani was free to clock out.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Bruce asked as she gathered all her materials together and began to pack up.

"I guess not," Dani admitted. "Once I actually started talking. The beginning was a disaster. I completely clammed up and everyone was staring at me."

"It was your first time. I'm sure they all understood. Besides, after that minor detail, you led this overall really, really well."

"Thanks," Dani said. She could feel a small blush crawling up to her cheeks and hoped that Bruce didn't notice.

She still just could not answer the question of why he was being so helpful and nice to her.

* * *

><p>Bruce himself didn't know why he was talking to her so much. She was just so different from anyone he had ever met before. She was completely genuine and wasn't being fake for the sake of being noticed by him. He was noticing her because she was being herself. And he really liked that about her.<p>

The weeks passed by, and Dani continued her work just like always. Bruce remained on watch every night as Batman. He found himself regularly checking in on Dani and making sure she was okay. But he didn't allow her to distract him from those who really needed his help. He remained the knight that the city wanted and needed.

* * *

><p>After meeting with Mr. Rubel in the morning, Dani went to her new desk that she had received after it was decided that she was doing enough work to have earned her own spot.<p>

To her surprise, a small little box sat there waiting for her. There was a tiny card with a handwritten note that read, "There wasn't a card that said 'Way to get through your first meeting at the top business in the city in front of the man himself!' So here's a little something to make up for it."

Dani opened the box and gasped. Inside sat a gorgeous silver necklace that she was sure had cost hundreds of dollars. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen by far. She could work as much as she wanted and wouldn't be able to afford something like this for years. It was just exquisite. She gently held it in her hands, almost afraid to touch it, like she would permanently ruin it if she did so. She ever so carefully put it back in the box and began to work. Every few minutes, she would open the box and stare at it some more, still in shock. She had a pretty good idea who had given it to her. It just added to the pile of questions she already had about him.

* * *

><p>Dani decided to use her paycheck to check out a new art gallery that was only going to be in town for a couple more days. The tickets to enter ate up almost everything she had, but not so much that she didn't have enough to take care of herself. She had wanted to go to one of these for the longest time, but could never even glance at it because it was far too expensive for her. Now that she finally had some cash, she was going to use it.<p>

She began to walk through the halls each decorated with a different painting or sculpture. Dani loved paintings. She didn't have an artistic bone in her body, but she loved picking apart others' work and really seeing the meaning behind it.

"I think this one is my favorite," a voice behind her said as she admired one of the paintings of a woman being courted by a man.

She turned her head and saw Bruce walk up and stand next to her. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were following me," she smirked.

"I'm a lover of the arts too. Besides, people would talk if I didn't show up considering my father went to every single art gallery ever presented here."

"So, you like this one?" she asked, trying to get off the awkward subject.

"Yeah, if you look closely, you can see another man in the background, looking at the couple sadly. And the way the woman's face is set, you can tell that she's not happy about her current situation. Which means that the two of them are probably lovers and she is being forced to marry this man she doesn't love. It says a lot about the time period."

Dani just stood there, mouth slightly agape. "I had no idea you were so observant." From what she had read in the magazines, she never expected him to be the kind of person to see so much more in a simple painting than what was on the surface. It was not how a playboy acted.

"My father taught me a lot about looking beyond what I see when it comes to art. He showed me how to look at the hidden details and the unwritten story behind each piece. I never looked at anything the same way again and I stopped judging people based on my first experience with them. I stopped looking at what I could see and focused on what I couldn't see. When I started doing that, I began to even see people in a different way, and looked deeper into them, and sometimes, I really like what I find."

Dani looked up at him to find him smiling at her. She had an uneasy feeling that that last part was directed at her. But that was crazy, right? A man like Bruce Wayne wouldn't like her. She was on the bottom of the totem pole at work, and she wasn't pretty like the girls he could usually be found with.

But he seemed to genuinely care about her, and she certainly had experienced lots of the exact opposite in her lifetime. And now she learned that they shared a love of art, right down to analyzing it. This was just insane.


	4. Wayne Enterprises Gala

**Hope you all had a lovely Christmas! Thanks to everyone who favorites and follows! Seriously, it makes my day :D**

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><p>"Mr. Rubel," Dani said as she walked into his office one bright morning. "I got what you needed for the—" She immediately stopped talking as she realized that Mr. Rubel was already talking with someone. "Mr. Fox! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt!"<p>

"Dani, there you are!" Mr. Rubel said. "We were just talking about you!"

"I hope they were good things," she laughed nervously.

"It's good to see you again, Miss Molina!" Mr. Fox said as he walked over to her.

"Likewise, sir," she responded, still embarrassed that she had walked in on their conversation.

"Mr. Rubel speaks very highly of you."

"I'm glad I'm earning a good reputation around here."

"I'm very impressed that you've gotten this job so soon after you finished your education. It's rare that someone is capable of something like that. In my opinion, it makes me respect you even more as a Wayne Enterprises employee."

"Thank you, sir," Dani smiled brightly.

"If you'll both excuse me, I'll get to my office and let you get back to work."

"Pleasure speaking with you, Mr. Fox!" Mr. Rubel said as the door closed.

"He's quite pleasant," Dani remarked.

"Wayne Enterprises is very lucky to have him as our CEO. Actually, I wanted to speak with you about something."

Against her will, Dani's stomach did a little flop. "Is everything okay?"

"Of course! More than okay. You're doing a fantastic job here. Everyone really seems to like you. For goodness' sake, you just got praised by the top man of the company!"

Dani laughed lightly, wondering where this was all going.

"So, there's this gala that Wayne Enterprises is having next weekend, and all the employees are invited to attend. I thought that perhaps I could be your escort that evening."

"I…I don't know," Dani stuttered. Her thoughts went back to what happened at Bruce's party a few months ago and she did not want to have a repeat of that experience. "I don't…I don't really do well in…social situations like that."

"Listen, this gala is just for employees and people who think they're cool enough to have some kind of plus one. It's almost all of your co-workers. We're all your friends here and you get along with everyone. You'll be fine."

Dani sighed. "Alright, you win. I'll go."

"Fantastic! I will pick you up at 8:30!"

The following Saturday, Dani put on the same navy blue dress she had worn to Bruce's party since she didn't have any other dress and she didn't have the time or will to go find another formal dress to wear. She didn't spend much time on her hair because in all honesty, she wasn't trying to impress anyone here and she was just going for Mr. Rubel's sake. If he hadn't invited her, she never would've gone at all. Dressing up like this just wasn't her thing.

Dani had told Mr. Rubel previously to pick her up at a different location that wasn't in the Narrows, so he didn't have to find out she lived there.

Mr. Rubel arrived right on time and they drove to Wayne Enterprises where the gala was being held. When they exited the car, Mr. Rubel offered his arm to her and she feebly took it, still rather uncomfortable with this whole situation. They entered the huge room, and Dani looked around her in awe. The setting was beautiful with lights strewn across the ceiling and walls and several tables set up with various dishes and vendors. A few eyes darted to the new arrivals, but only for a couple seconds. The two of them found a table to place their stuff on, and then went to go mingle. Dani found a few of her coworkers and chatted with them for a while.

Already, this was better than Bruce's party. At least here, she knew almost everyone whereas that party had been filled with a bunch of strangers.

Bruce made a grand entrance met by everyone applauding him. He had some model latched onto his arm who looked like she'd rather die than let go of him…or rather let go of his money. Dani thought back to what Mr. Rubel had said to her:

_Listen, this gala is just for employees and people who think they're cool enough to have some kind of plus one._

She smiled to herself as she watched Bruce walked around with the model clinging to him.

"Dani!" she heard as she passed her table. She turned to find Mr. Rubel signaling her over. "Come join us."

Dani slowly took a seat at the table that was surrounded by men she had met on her first day of work.

"You remember the men on the board," Mr. Rubel said. "I've just been telling them how smart we were to accept your application. You've really brought something to this company as a whole, Ms. Molina."

Dani gave him a half smile. She would never say it out loud, but this whole situation was incredibly awkward. The men circled around the table seemed to be judging her, like they still weren't sure why they hired her in the first place or believed that she really was working hard.

"Ms. Molina, it seems Mr. Rubel thinks very highly of you," one of them said. She could notice the slightest hint of disdain hidden in his voice. "You've just gotten out of graduate school, correct?"

"Yes, sir," she answered.

"You know, not many people at that level of education and experience are qualified for such a job. You must have really brought a lot to the table."

"Well, my old professor recommended me for the job and told me to apply. I just filled out the application and did the interviews like everyone else."

"Indeed." There was that judgmental tone again that he wasn't trying very hard to hide.

Mr. Rubel seemed to notice the tension and stood up. "Care to dance?" he asked as he offered his hand.

She smiled up at him with immense relief and gratefully took his awaiting hand. He led her out onto the dance floor and they began to sway together in circles as her hand rested on his shoulder and her other hand was clasped in his.

"Sorry about that," he said quietly. "I didn't mean for that to be so awkward."

Dani smiled. "It's really okay. If you think I'm doing a good job, then that's all they really care about, even if they don't like me."

"Just give them some time. They don't really like any new employees. It took months to get them to like me, and now here we are. They hang on my every word."

Dani laughed at his playful tone.

"So, is tonight as bad as you'd thought it be?"

"Surprisingly, no. I actually am having a good time."

"I'm glad to hear that."

They danced for a few more seconds before they heard, "Mind if I cut in?"

Mr. Rubel turned to find Bruce standing behind them. Dani couldn't ignore the fact that her heartbeat increased by several notches.

"Of course!" Mr. Rubel answered as he moved aside.

Bruce stepped closer to her and gently took her hand in his and put his other hand on her waist, sending a wave of goosebumps across her skin. She had never been this close to this man before, and she was surprised to find that she really wasn't all that uncomfortable.

They slowly swayed together in time with the music. The whole moment seem so surreal to her.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" he asked her.

"Well, I don't really, um, go dancing much, so I guess I don't exactly have anything to compare this to."

He laughed lightly. "I meant the evening. Are you enjoying the gala?"

"Oh," Dani said quietly as she blushed furiously. "Yeah, it's, um, it's really nice."

Bruce smiled at her. "This isn't your thing, huh?"

If possible, Dani blushed even harder. "Is is that obvious?"

"I was actually surprised to see you here."

"Mr. Rubel invited me to be his, well, date."

"I see."

"But you're right, this isn't me. I'm just putting on a mask once again to try to please the people around me."

"Believe me, if anyone understands anything about putting on masks, I do."

Their small dance continued in silence as she reflected on his words. She saw out of her peripheral vision that people were staring at them, but as they kept swaying, it was almost like she didn't even notice them.


	5. Business Dinner

A few nights after the gala, Dani changed into her pajamas and felt much more comfortable as she lounged on the couch after a really long day at work. For probably the millionth time, her thoughts wandered over to Bruce Wayne. She had pieced together from what the board members said at the gala and from what Mr. Rubel told her that Bruce had had a say in her getting hired. She had been mad at first, but was honored that someone like him was willing to help her get the job she wanted. That meant he actually _wanted_ to work with her! She was feeling a little overwhelmed by all of this. After all, she had never caught the interest of any guy before. The first one to start paying attention to her was none other than the most famous man in Gotham City! But was it because of his playboy attitude that he was doing all this for her? If it was, it seemed like he was going a little too far with it. Didn't he normally just toss a couple winks to girls here and there, show up at places with his Rent-A-Model, talk with his flirtatious voice, and buy things that weren't for sale?

It was getting to the point where she saw him almost every day at work, even if it was only a few seconds. And more surprisingly to her, she found herself looking forward to the times she saw him, and was disappointed when she didn't.

She was so lost in her thoughts, she almost didn't notice what was outside her window. She thought she saw an unmistakable man dressed in all black with a pointed mask. But when she ran to the window, she could find no one there. All the same, she knew that she had seen the Batman. Was he watching her? Had she caught the eyes of Bruce AND Batman? That was impossible…right?

* * *

><p>"Master Wayne," Alfred said as Bruce removed his cowl down in the Batcave. "Anything unusual?"<p>

"No, it was just another slow night."

"In that case, can I assume that you went to go see Miss Molina?"

"How did you know that?"

"You just told me."

Bruce sighed. He could never hide anything from the man. And he had certainly tried to in the past! "I can't help it," he admitted. "I've just felt drawn to her ever since I saved her when she left my party. She's different from anyone I've ever met before. Even Rachel."

"I've never heard you speak this way about someone before."

"She's just…not like the others. She treats me like any other human being, and doesn't seem to have any interest in the fact that I'm a billionaire. When I talk to her, I don't feel like I have to hide who I really am. I don't have to put on the whole playboy thing. I feel like she just gets me in a way that even she doesn't understand yet."

"Master Wayne, when can I expect her over?" Alfred asked with complete innocence.

"I'm not bringing her here, Alfred. Not only could she find things that she's not supposed to, but I don't want to scare her off. She's really shy, and I'm not sure I've gotten completely through to her yet."

"There's more to it than that, isn't there?"

Bruce sighed again and ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know, I just feel like it's too soon. Like I'm disgracing Rachel if I let Dani into my life."

"As much as it pains both of us, Miss Dawes is gone, and she wouldn't have wanted you to be alone for the rest of your life, wondering what could have been with her."

"But when will it be okay to let Dani in?"

"Well, I'm sure it will all be in good time, sir," he answered with a glimmer in his eye.

* * *

><p>It was Friday morning, and Dani was going to Mr. Rubel's office just like she did every day for the past few months now.<p>

"Good morning, Dani!" he said as she came through the door.

"Good morning, sir!"

"Listen, are you busy tonight?"

"No, not at the moment."

"Well, I'd like to meet with you for dinner to go over some business details. We need to talk about some future plans for you here at Wayne Enterprises. And there are some aspects of the company I need to sort out with you."

"Alright, that sounds like a plan."

"Okay, so I will pick you up at 7:00 and we'll go to the restaurant. It's pretty upscale, so dress nice."

So this was a business dinner. Dani had never actually eaten at fancy restaurants. Bruce's party and the gala were the only fancy things she had ever been to before. While she was a bit nervous about how it would go and how she should act, she had to admit that she was pretty excited to be able to say that she had Friday night plans, even if it was just business.

Dani went all out that night. She dressed in her knee-length spaghetti strap red dress with some black heels and an updo with little strands of curled hair lying on her cheeks. For the final touch, she put on her new silver necklace that she had yet to wear.

Mr. Rubel's eyes noticeably widened when he picked her up at the same location he had previously done so in order for Dani to keep her real location a secret.

"Wow," he said quietly. "You look…amazing."

"Thank you," she blushed. "So do you."

He opened the car door for her and helped her get seated, then drove to the restaurant. He paid for valet parking and they were escorted to their table.

They ordered drinks and made casual conversation before they began to discuss business.

Dani's eyes absent-mindedly went to the door and she saw Bruce enter in with a girl on each arm, living up to the playboy rumors.

"I didn't expect to see you two here," Bruce said as he passed by them.

"Mr. Wayne?" Dani said surprised.

"Working hours are over. Please call me Bruce."

"What are you doing here?"

"Can't a man have a night out? This is Carly and Elsa," he introduced the two models.

"Lovely to meet you," Dani said as she shook their hands. The thing was it wasn't lovely to meet them. Dani didn't like them hanging onto Bruce like they were. She was pretty sure they were just gold diggers and were only out with him to get some of his money. She wanted it to be her that was having dinner with him. Wait a second, was she feeling…jealous?

Bruce was having a hard time keeping his eyes inside his head. Dani looked absolutely beautiful! He never knew that she could look like she did right now. That red dress was hugging her small form tightly, accenting every curve. Her hair was as flawless as it could be. Her perfect face was smiling up at him, making him feel like he was being shocked. He couldn't mistake the necklace she was wearing. After all, he had been the one to give it to her, and he was happy that she actually decided to wear it rather than push it aside. He suddenly didn't want to be here with the two models. He wanted to be here with her.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked, hoping they didn't realize his voice ever so slightly trembled as he tried to look away from Dani's beauty.

"We're here on a business dinner," Mr. Rubel answered.

"Well, don't let me interrupt." He began to walk away to get his table, and Dani watched him go, not wanting him to leave. She kept sneaking glances over at him when it seemed like Mr. Rubel wasn't looking, but he noticed. He chose not to say anything.

When they were about to leave, Dani caught Bruce's eyes. She couldn't explain how she felt when he looked at her. He was looking at her in a way she had never seen from him. And it was directed at her. They broke their gaze when the models forced him to look away from her.

There was no mistaking what had happened in the restaurant. Dani and Bruce were falling for each other.

* * *

><p><strong>I really, really hope that I didn't rush this whole DaniBruce thing. I was trying so hard not to to the point where I was asking all my friends, even those who have never seen the movies, things I could add to build this whole thing up. If I have rushed it, I apologize. It wasn't my intention.  
><strong>


	6. First Date

**Thanks to all my new followers! I'm so happy that I've gotten so many! And thanks to Guest for giving me my first review!**

**Happy New Year everyone! Let's go 2015!**

* * *

><p>The next morning, Dani's head was still reeling from the events of last night. She found it impossible to fall for a guy like Bruce Wayne. And even more impossible for him to fall for her. This had not been part of the plan when she started working at Wayne Enterprises. This hadn't been the plan for her life.<p>

When she showed up at work on Monday, she found herself almost not wanting to see Bruce since she was still trying to work out what had happened at the restaurant.

Her wish didn't come true, for he eventually found her as she was clocking out for the day.

"Dani!" he called as he walked over.

She internally groaned. So close to not having to see him. "Hey," she fake-smiled, involuntarily feeling the now all too familiar blush rise to her cheeks.

"I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Look, if it's about Friday at the restaurant—"

"No, it's not about that," he cut her off.

"Alright," she said, deciding to humor him.

"Would you want to have dinner with me at the Manor tonight?"

"You mean…like a date?"

He smiled at her. "Exactly."

"Are—Are you sure?" she asked flustered. "I mean, I'm not exactly like the kind of girls you usually hang out with. They're flawless models. I'm just…me."

"Exactly why I want to have dinner with you. We'll be safe in my house away from the paparazzi, so we don't have to worry about that. Alfred can cook us a nice dinner and we can just enjoy each other's company."

Dani hesitated, not quite believing that this was really happening. "…I don't know," she stuttered.

"When I saw you at the restaurant on Friday, I felt jealous of Justin because he got to be there with you, and if I'm right, you felt the same way about Carly and Elsa."

Dani remained silent, which told Bruce all he needed to hear as he smiled warmly.

"Is 7:00 okay for you?" he asked.

"Um…I guess so."

"Great, I'll see you then!"

He walked away before Dani could even think of anything else to say. She stood there in the middle Wayne Enterprises sure that this was all just a dream.

* * *

><p>Dani dressed in a casual shirt and skirt with some ballet flats, and threw her hair into a half ponytail.<p>

She walked outside and grabbed a cab and asked for the driver to take her to Wayne Manor. Dani's stomach flipped the entire way there. It seemed like the car ride was hours long when it was really only about twenty minutes.

The gate was open so the driver pulled up to the front door and she proceeded to pay him before she got out of the car.

She looked at the huge building in front of her as she heard the gravel crunch when the cab drove away. After taking a deep breath, she walked up to the front door and rang the bell.

"Ah, Miss Molina!" an older gentleman, who she assumed was Bruce's butler, the Alfred that he had told her about, said as he opened the door. "Please do come in."

Dani slowly walked through the door and she remembered how she had run out of here the night of the party. She was still embarrassed about that night, even though Bruce thought nothing of it. However, that night did lead to a date with the Gotham Prince, so maybe she should've been grateful...

"Master Wayne is getting ready upstairs. He should be down any minute now. If I may direct you to where you will be eating."

Dani followed him to a room with a small table for two and several dishes laid out on it. It was all set up well, and though Dani was nervous, she had a feeling this was going to go pretty nicely.

"Dani," Bruce said as he walked into the room behind her. "Sorry if I kept you waiting."

"Nope, I just got here a couple minutes earlier."

He pulled out the chair for her before sitting down himself.

Alfred served them as the two of them talked while they ate. Dani realized that they had much more in common than she initially realized. She was beginning to think that the whole playboy thing was just an act to hide who he really was. And to be honest, she was really liking who he really was. He loved the arts, just like she did, which he had proved at the gallery. Like him, her parents had died when she was fairly young, but she had been older than Bruce by a few years when her parents passed due to a fatal illness.

She found that conversing with him was much easier and comfortable than she had expected it to be. After months of talking stuttery around him, she was now talking to him as if he was an old friend, and she liked it. She hadn't been able to talk to someone like this in a really long time. The night went on and when she looked at her phone, she realized she had been at his house for three hours…and she still didn't want to leave!

"Well, I think I should be getting home," she said as she stood up. "I've still got work tomorrow."

"I understand," Bruce said as he stood up as well. "Want me to drive you home?"

"Um, sure."

The two of them walked to Bruce's Lamborghini and the ride home was filled with more casual talk. As Bruce pulled up in front of Dani's apartment, she tried to hide how much she wanted to stay with him.

"I had a really nice time tonight," Bruce said.

"Me too," she answered as she got out of the car.

"Maybe we can it again sometime."

Dani smiled broadly. "Maybe."

As she walked up the stairs to her apartment, she reflected over the night. Definitely the best night of her life.

* * *

><p>Dani was making some tea for herself in the employee lounge when she felt a familiar voice whisper in her ear, "Hey, sweetheart."<p>

She laughed as his breath tickled her ear and turned around to face him, leaning back onto the counter. "Just because we had one date does not make us an item."

"Well, let's fix that. Are you busy on Friday?"

"No, I'm not actually. We can get together then. But you're coming over to my place this time. And I'll cook us something."

"No, I can't let you do that."

"Hey, you provided everything last time, I provide everything this time. That's just how it works. I mean, if you want to eat at the Manor, you can. But you'll be eating alone," she teased.

"Alright, your place it is."

"I knew you'd see it my way!"

That Friday, as soon as she was free to clock out, Dani rushed to the store to buy some ingredients, then back home as fast as she could to start cooking dinner.

She wasn't used to actually cooking real meals, and found that she had to learn how to use her kitchen equipment all over again. But everything turned out just fine. While she waited for everything to cook, she changed into a nice pair of comfortable jeans and a black cami under a form-fitting white button-up shirt.

She arranged her dishes on the table and set out a couple of candles. Then she played some soft music and dimmed the lights and waited for the knock on her door.

It didn't take long for that knock to be heard all throughout the apartment, making her heart skip a couple of beats.

She went to the door, took a deep breath, and opened it.

"Hey," Bruce said with a warm smile.

"Hi, come on in," she greeted.

Bruce walked into her small apartment and looked around. "It's a nice place you got here."

"No, just…just don't," Dani laughed. "It's nothing like what you're used to, I'm sure."

"Well, it's not, but it's still nice."

"You did not come here to talk about my living space. You came so we could have dinner together."

"That I did."

"Well, everything's here." She escorted him to the table and they sat down and began to eat.

Once again, conversation came easily to the both of them. There were never any awkward pauses, and Dani felt like she could just be herself. The same went for Bruce. He had never felt this way with anyone, not even Rachel, and that was saying something.

"Hey, Bruce, can I ask you something?" Dani said.

"Yeah, anything."

"Okay, that night of your party when I…left early, I got attacked on the way home."

"What? What happened?" he asked, feigning surprise.

"Someone grabbed me and tried to choke me. But I was saved…by the Batman."

"Really?" He was finding it very difficult to conceal his smile.

"Yeah, and I think that I've seen him a couple times outside my window. Do you think it's possible that…well, he's watching me? Making sure I'm okay?"

"This Batman doesn't really seem like the kind of guy who just checks up on people. I think he just hunts out criminals and brings them to justice."

"I suppose you're right."

It was obvious to Bruce that she wasn't convinced and still believed that Batman was watching over her. Which he was. But she was not allowed to know that. He made a mental note to stop checking up on her so she didn't get any more suspicious than she already was.


	7. Movie Night

**I've reached twenty followers! I'm very honored that a good number of you have chosen to read the rest! The action's going to pick up soon too, so hang with me! :D**

* * *

><p>Bruce and Dani went on a couple more dates privately throughout the next few weeks. With each one, Dani became less nervous and conversation was always easier than the previous date.<p>

On one Saturday, Dani headed over to the Manor.

"Good afternoon, Miss Molina!" Alfred greeted her after she rang the bell. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I was hoping to see Bruce today. I wanted to ask him something. Is he here?"

"Yes, I believe he's just in his room. You can go on upstairs. It's down the hall, third door on your left."

"Okay, thanks!" She walked up the stairs and took a look around, convinced that she needed a map to get through this place.

"Bruce?" she called, hoping he would answer. "Hello?"

She came to the only closed door in the hall and assumed it was his room. After knocking on the door, and hearing no reply, she slowly twisted the knob and opened it.

"Bruce?"

"Dani?" she heard. Apparently, he had been beside the bed for whatever reason. He stood up at the sound of her voice. Her breath hitched in her throat and she turned a very bright shade of red as she realized he was shirtless! And he was ripped! His huge biceps bulged out so much, she was pretty sure he could break a steel pipe in half by putting just the slightest pressure on it. His pecs were well defined and he had a really nice set of abs.

Dani nervously cleared her throat and turned around. "Uh, sorry."

He just laughed as he put an old t-shirt on. Most girls would've killed to see a guy like Bruce shirtless, and yet here Dani was, being modest and waiting for him to clothe himself. Just one of the many reasons he had fallen for her.

"All good," he responded before she turned back around. He noticed she had put her long brown hair into a couple of braids. "You look cute."

She laughed as she fingered her braid. "Thanks."

"Come on, let's go to the kitchen. I'm starving."

She followed him back downstairs where Alfred appeared to be preparing a plate for him.

"Would you like anything, Miss Molina?" Alfred asked.

"Oh, no thanks."

"Are you sure? I made some chocolate chip muffins. They're Master Wayne's favorite."

"Well, I will never say no to anything with the word 'chocolate' in it!" she grinned as she took a muffin from him. She peeled back the paper and took a bite. "Oh my goodness, Alfred, this is amazing."

"I'm glad it is to your satisfaction," he smiled. "I'll leave you to it."

He left the room and Dani watched him go before turning back to Bruce. "So, I wanted to know if you're busy tonight. I thought we could stay in and watch a movie or something."

"Yeah, sounds good. I'm not watching _The Notebook_ though."

Dani smiled at him. "I hate chick flicks. I was thinking we could watch _The Prestige._"

"Perfect," he smiled back.

"Okay, well then, I will see you tonight," she said as she took another bite of her muffin. She smiled at him with those beautiful eyes of hers and left the Manor.

Dani returned around 8:00 that night and Bruce answered the door for her. She held up the movie in her hand with a smile. He looked at her, admiring how beautiful she was even though she didn't wear make-up, was wearing her hair in a couple of braids, and was dressed in just a t-shirt and jeans. She was such a far cry from so many of the women he had gone out with, and that made him fall for her all over again.

"Shall we?" Bruce asked as she stepped inside.

Bruce set up the movie in his screening room. The TV was huge, almost the size of a movie theater. There were a few couches and seats scattered all throughout the room. Bruce sat down on one of the couches and Dani crashed down next to him.

"Have you ever seen this before?" Bruce asked her as the previews started.

"No, I haven't. But my friend said it's really, really good, and apparently the ending is fantastic! I've been wanting to watch it for a really long time."

The movie started and after an intense opening, a man called Borden appeared on the screen.

"He looks a lot like you," Dani remarked.

"Nah," Bruce replied. "I am much better looking."

Dani laughed. A while later, they learned his name was Alfred. "Well, isn't that a coincidence! The guy looks like you and shares the name of your butler!"

"I told you, I am better looking than this guy!"

"Maybe so, but he has a much hotter accent!"

Bruce laughed and pulled her closer to him. He felt her tense up next to him as one man shot another and took off a couple of his fingers. "That's gotta hurt," she mumbled.

Dani snuggled closer to him, taking his hand in hers and resting her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her, which made Dani realize just how close they had gotten. She had never expected in a million years that Bruce Wayne would fall for her one day.

They reached the end of the movie a couple hours later and Dani sat up, still holding onto Bruce's hand. "Oh, man, that was intense! My friend was right! That ending really is great!"

"You picked a good movie!"

The couple smiled at each other.

"Look, Dani," Bruce said to her. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

Dani's stomach lurched. She had enough knowledge to know that most of the time, when guys said that, what usually followed wasn't good. "Okay," she said slowly.

Bruce laughed, noticing her worried expression. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad! I was just thinking, we're getting kind of serious. It's only going to be a matter of time before the press gets wind of us. Maybe that time is now."

"You're saying you want to go public?"

"I think we should finally have a date outside of our residences. And if the press get a few pictures, so be it. I'm perfectly okay with the world knowing I'm with you."

Dani smiled at him. "Alright. Say next Friday night?"

"Sounds great to me."

They looked into each other's eyes and began to draw closer to each other. Before they could close the gap, Dani pulled away. "I should go. I have a lot of stuff to do tomorrow in preparation for Monday."

Bruce escorted her to the door. "This was fun. We should do it again."

"Yeah. Thanks for a really nice night," she smiled.

Bruce leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead. She smiled wider before waving and going down the many steps. Her mind was reeling at a thousand miles an hour.

* * *

><p>When Dani got back to her apartment, she turned on the TV and sat on the couch after changing into pajamas. There was only one thing going through her mind.<p>

_I almost kissed Bruce Wayne. I almost kissed Bruce Wayne. I almost kissed Bruce Wayne. I almost kissed Bruce Wayne. I almost kissed Bruce Wayne._

And now he wanted to go public with her. She had never really thought about ever doing so, but now that he had brought up, she knew that after their public date, they would officially be a couple. It was so strange to her. And she was perfectly okay with that.

* * *

><p><strong>Having the two of them watch The Prestige was a little inside joke because Christian Bale is in that movie too. That's why Dani said a character looked like him. Because it was him! I'm so funny...<br>**

**The Prestige is a fantastic movie and I highly recommend it. I mean, it stars Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, and was directed by Christopher Nolan. Nuff said!**


	8. Going Public

Bruce came up behind her on Monday and put his arms around her waist. "Ready for Friday?"

She squirmed out of his embrace playfully. "We haven't gone public yet," she laughed. "That's five days away."

"I've got it all planned out too."

"You do now? Well are you going to fill me in?"

"No I am not. It's a surprise."

Dani playfully pouted. "Please?"

"No. Come on, don't you like surprises?"

"Of course, I do! It's just the time leading up to them that I don't like!" There was a brief silence as they met each other's eyes. "Bruce," she said softly. "I have to get back to work."

He watched her as she left the room, hugging her files close to her chest. She was just perfect.

* * *

><p>Friday couldn't come fast enough for the both of them.<p>

Bruce came to pick her up at her apartment in his Lamborghini. Dani donned a knee-length black dress with laced sleeves and the necklace he had given her.

There was a knock on her door and her heart began to flutter. She did a quick check of herself in the hall mirror and went to answer it.

"Wow, you look beautiful," Bruce said.

"Thanks. You look nice too."

He held out his arm for her to take and escorted her down to his awaiting car. He drove her to a very expensive restaurant that she had never glanced at twice because she knew she could never afford to eat there. And yet, here she was.

The valet opened the door for her and Bruce took her hand as she stepped out. "This place is incredible," she breathed.

"I'm glad you like it."

Dani could not ignore the stares that they got from pretty much the entire restaurant as they walked in. It made her a little uncomfortable, but she tried to push those feelings down. They were seated at the best table in the place and they placed their orders with the waiter, who seemed really nervous that he was serving Bruce Wayne.

They talked together, just like they did on all their other dates, and conversation was still easy. However, she could tell out of the corner of her eye that several people were taking pictures of them sitting together on their phones.

"Look," Bruce said, taking her hand. "If you're uncomfortable…"

"No. We have to do this eventually. Better to just get it over with now."

The date wasn't terrible in any way, on the contrary, it was a nice change to be able to dress up and go out. But she much preferred having their dates in private where she didn't have to worry about anything other than Bruce.

At work, people began to look at her differently, now that Bruce flirted with her no matter where they were. She really didn't mind it all that much, just because Bruce made her so happy that what other people thought didn't matter. At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

* * *

><p>Dani went to the Manor one evening, trying to prepare herself for what she knew she had to do.<p>

Bruce answered the door with a smile and kissed her cheek. "What's up?" he asked as they moved inside.

"Uh, I wanted to talk with you," she said, not moving far from the closed door.

"Okay." He was starting to notice that something wasn't exactly right with her.

She took a deep breath. "I have lived in the Narrows almost my entire life. And living there has taught me that you can't always trust everyone. So…when someone takes a picture of me as I'm walking home, I don't know if it's the press, or if it's someone who's stalking me."

"Dani…"

"No, look, it's happened to me before, alright? I thought someone was following me so I reported him to the police and when they searched his home, they found numerous pictures of me and other personal information that I have no idea how he got his hands on. I had never felt so vulnerable and invaded in my entire life." Tears began to well up in her eyes, despite her attempts to push them down. "I knew that when we had a date in public, there would be people taking pictures and everyone trying to find out about us. And I thought that I would be okay with it. But people are looking at me differently at work, and not just because we're dating. They find it strange that I'm, of all people, dating the top man of the company. Who knows how many of them think I'm doing that just so I can get promoted or something?"

"Dani…"

She shook her head. "I think that we just need to spend some time apart. Just for a little while. Just until I feel safe again."

"I can make sure you're safe!"

A tear rolled down her cheek. "I know. But you can't protect me all the time. I'm sorry, Bruce."

With that, she ran out the door as fast as she could and didn't stop walking until she got home. She didn't call a cab or anything but just walked and walked.

That night, she sat on her couch in a loose shirt and sweatpants in front of the TV with a blanket pulled over her. She tried to stop the tears, but all her efforts were futile. She just felt so guilty and terrible and angry all at once.

There was a knock on her door and she prayed that it wasn't Bruce. She did not want to talk to him right now, nor did she want him to see her like this. She looked through the peephole, and sighed with relief when she saw that it wasn't him.

"Nadia?"

"I, uh, I heard you crying as I passed by. Are you okay?"

She laughed lightly. "I just, uh, broke up with someone."

"You broke up with Bruce Wayne?"

"I guess everyone knows we were dating, huh?"

"It's all over the tabloids. What happened?"

Dani ushered her in and they sat down on the couch together. "After we went public, people have been taking pictures of me, which I expected. It's just that I was stalked a few years ago, and when I see those people taking pictures, I never know if it's the press or one of those creeps. The stress of it was taking a toll on me. Not to mention everyone at work looks at me like their spouse just cheated on them with me."

"This sounds like a time to gorge on a pint of ice cream and binge watch _Sherlock_ for the rest of the night."

Dani smiled. She had never really talked to Nadia all that often, but here that girl was treating her just like a best friend. The two of them went over to Nadia's apartment and Nadia set up Netflix on her TV.

"Would you like Chocolate Fudge or Fudge Ripple?" she asked Dani.

"Either one."

The two girls stayed up all night watching Sherlock and eating admittedly more than one pint of ice cream. Classic post-break-up time.

* * *

><p>Mr. Rubel requested her to go get some files from the workroom a couple days after her break-up. She obediently went straight to go get the files and passed several of her co-workers along the way. Every single one of them looked at her and she could feel judgment radiating off them. Most of them pointed at her and whispered to their friends when they thought she wasn't looking. When she finally made it the workroom, she shut the door behind her and began looking for the files. It was only when a droplet of water splashed down onto one of the files did she realize that tears were spilling down her cheeks. This was just a terrible situation. First, she had broken off her relationship and felt an immense amount of guilt for doing so, and now everyone looked at her with judgment that bored into her very core and ate away at her. She slowly sank down on the ground as her co-workers faces filled her mind.<p>

"Dani?" a soft voice said. She turned to find Mr. Rubel kneeling next to her. He sighed. "Why don't you take the rest of the day off?"

"No," she said firmly. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not. It's more than just the break-up, isn't it?"

Because Dani had built up such a good relationship with her boss, she didn't mind the question and didn't find it awkward. In fact, he had become more like a guy best friend than a boss.

"It's the way people are looking at me. Everywhere I walk, they all look at me with such judgmental looks that it hurts."

Mr. Rubel helped her stand up. "I don't look at you like that."

Dani allowed herself a small smile. "I know."

"Look, just go home and relax and I'll see you tomorrow."

He called her a cab, and she went back to her apartment with the full attention of binge-watching something else on Netflix with Nadia.

* * *

><p><strong>Aw, poor Dani! The action is going to pick up majorly in the next chapter so stay tuned!<br>**


	9. Kidnapped

**Thanks to all of you who have stuck with me this far! As promised, here is the chapter where the action intensifies!**

**I've uploaded a trailer for this fanfiction on Youtube! Just search my username, aspiringsinger15, and you can find it on my channel! I'd post the link, but you know, that doesn't really work. Go give it a watch!**

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><p>The next week proved to be absolutely torturous. The tabloids had quickly gotten wind of their break-up which resulted in even more stares from her co-workers. Mr. Rubel thankfully defended her and treated her the exact same way he always had.<p>

Every now and again, Dani would see Bruce from afar, and sometimes they would even make slight eye contact. But she only allowed it to last for a second and then hurried up and ran off before he could come over and speak to her. Nadia began to spend a lot of time at her apartment to help her get through her break up and allow Dani to vent to someone.

After a particularly stressful day at work, where she spent more time avoiding Bruce than usual, Dani came through her apartment door and put her bag on the counter. She let out a deep breath, wondering just how she was going to get through all of this.

"Hello, beautiful," a sadistic voice rang out.

Dani whipped around and found a shadow of a man standing by her TV, facing her. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"Just a little someone who's had his eye on you."

He stepped forward and Dani found herself staring at a man who had terrified her and all of Gotham for a long time just a few months ago. "You," she whispered. "No. No, you're supposed to be in…in the Asylum." Her heart rate increased dramatically as she realized that someone who was clinically insane—no, a legit sociopath—was standing three feet away from her.

"And yet here we are."

Dani stared at the man in her apartment, tears unwillingly forming in her eyes from the fear that was rising up in her. His face was plastered in white makeup with a red smile painted on his face, covering his scarred cheeks that left him with a permanent smile. He stood menacingly in the middle of her home, his usual purple suit and green hair standing out even in the dim light.

"What do you want?"

"I want you, sweetheart."

Dani ran for the door, but before she could make it, she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head and everything went black.

* * *

><p>"Hey, beautiful, time to wake up."<p>

Dani felt someone lightly slapping her cheek and slowly came to. Her eyes blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the new light. Suddenly, everything came flooding back to her. Everything that had happened in her apartment. She tried to move her wrists but found that they were bound to the chair she was sitting on. She noticed her jacket had been taken off, so she was only wearing her black tank top and the skinny jeans she had worn to work before along with her boots.

She looked up and saw the man called the Joker smiling at her. "Nice to see you're awake," he chuckled.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why do you think? I want to bring Batman down and get rid of Gotham's Dark Knight, just like I got rid of its White Knight."

"Everyone said Batman killed Harvey."

"No, no, no, you see, no one killed him. I just slowly brought him down to my level to the point where he wasn't a White Knight anymore."

"Why take me to get to him? Why not anyone else?"

"I've seen the pictures, and I know you're going out with that lovely Bruce Wayne. Lucky you, he's a cutie. That brought your rank up. Which means Batman will do anything to save you."

"What if he doesn't come? Then what will you do?"

"Oh, he'll come. He'll come."

The Joker left the room, leaving her alone. Dani frantically looked around her for something she could use to escape. Finding nothing, she leaned over as much as she could and spit on her wrist. She then tried to pull her now slippery wrist out of the rope. It took some time and her wrist was red and raw when she finally got it out. She went about untying her other wrist and her feet. She carefully took her shoes off, knowing she could sneak around quicker and quieter if she was barefoot. After trying the door knob, she found it locked tight, which she had expected. She took a pin from her hair, allowing it to fall in her face, and fed it into the lock until she heard a click and the door opened.

She then quietly as possible turned the knob again and unlocked the door. After taking a quick look around to make sure the Joker was not in sight, she bolted off in one direction, hoping to find an exit. This place, which she guessed was some kind of warehouse, was a maze and she had no idea where she was. She tried several different ways, but all of them proved to be dead ends. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she tried to get out before she was caught.

Suddenly, an arm wrapped around her waist and another went around her neck.

"That was a mistake, my lovely girl," she heard the Joker purr into her ear. "I don't tolerate mistakes."

She heard him take out a knife and she thought for sure that he was going to slice her neck. Instead, he left a small cut on her cheek. She winced, but did not allow herself to make a sound so he didn't get the satisfaction of seeing her in pain. She could feel a small trickle of blood crawl down her cheek from the cut.

The Joker dragged her back to the room and shoved her into the chair. He took more rope and tied her hands back onto the armrests. "Just so you don't feel like you want to try again," he said as he took his knife out once more. He made a much deeper slice onto her arm. Dani screamed in pain.

"Don't worry," he told her. "It won't leave a scar…"

Tears flowed down her cheeks, burning the cut he had previously made.

"You and I, doll, are going to make a little video." He held up a small video camera and turned it on. "The tears really help. This is going to be great. All you have to do is read these little cards I hold up for you."

He took out some large index cards with messy writing scrawled on them.

"And action!"

Dani looked at the card he was holding. "Batman," she choked out through her tears as the cut burned her arm. "If you're watching this, you have 48 hours to find me. If you don't, I'll be…taken away where you will never find me." Dani started sobbing as each card just held worse news than the one before.

"Finish!" the Joker commanded.

"Hurry up. Time is ticking."

The Joker held up the camera so he was filming himself. "To give you a little incentive, Mr. Batman, here's what gonna happen. If you don't find the girl in the next few hours, I have a little…treat for her. Best you hurry up…before Bruce's sweetheart is gone forever!" He snapped the camera shut and turned to Dani. "That was perfect, sweetie!" He went up to her and caressed her cheek and neck. Dani squirmed her head away from him, but he just roughly grabbed her face in his hand and forced her to look at him. "Better hope batboy gets here in time." He smiled and began to laugh way too hard. More tears rolled down Dani's cheeks from the pain and the fact that she was trapped with a psycho. A very evil, deranged psychopath.


	10. Escape Attempt Number 2

**You guys, I made it to thirty followers! I'm so proud!**

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><p>"Master Wayne!" Alfred called from his room. "You're going to want to see this."<p>

Bruce walked into the room to find Alfred staring at the TV with an ashen face. He looked at the TV screen to find his beloved Dani tied to a chair with tears streaming down her face, a small cut on her cheek, and a large gash on her arm. Bruce watched the TV screen in horror. She was reading something on the other side of the camera and it was an announcement for Batman.

When the camera turned to show the world who was filming, Bruce's heart nearly stopped. "To give you a little incentive, Mr. Batman, here's what gonna happen. For every few hours you don't find the girl, I have a little…treat for her. Best you hurry up…before Bruce Wayne's sweetheart is gone forever!"

The tape flipped off and went back to a news station.

"He's back," Bruce said quietly.

"And it seems he's gotten Miss Molina to get to you," Alfred said sadly.

"How could I have let this happen? I told her I could make sure she was safe!"

"You still can. You must find her. And keep her safe from the monster who took her."

"Where would I even start?"

"I believe that Mr. Fox should be able to assist you."

* * *

><p>"Fox!" Bruce called as he entered the man's office. "I need your help!"<p>

"What seems to be the problem?"

"Dani's been kidnapped."

"Dani's been kidnapped?!" he exclaimed bolting up from his seat.

"It gets worse. She's been kidnapped by the Joker. I have to find out where she is. She's in a lot of trouble. We both know he doesn't play nice, and I can only imagine the terrible things he's doing to her."

"I'll get right on it."

Bruce and Lucius went to his concealed lab where he kept all his computer junk and techie stuff. He sat down and began pulling up different pages on several screens. "I'll try to see if I can track down where the video was taken, and maybe that will lead us to her."

"Call me as soon as you get something. And please hurry. We don't know how long she's got."

* * *

><p>Dani's arm still burned from the gash the Joker had left. She had been worried that she would bleed out, but of course, he didn't allow that to happen. He couldn't let her die. Yet.<p>

Every time Dani struggled against her new ropes, a surge of pain coursed through her arm. He had tied them even tighter so there was no squirming out of them this time. She looked around once more trying to see if there was anything at all that she could use to free herself. She noticed that the more she moved her feet, the looser the ropes became since she was now barefoot. She started moving them as fast as she could. If she could just free her legs, that could be enough to initiate her escape.

Finally, the ropes slid off her feet and it wasn't long after when the Joker walked in.

"Hello, gorgeous. Do you realize that you only have a little over 24 hours left?"

_I've been held here that long?_ she thought. It seemed like a lot longer.

"You better hope ol' Batboy will come in time. Otherwise, you and I are going to have one heck of a time together!"

He was finally close enough for Dani. She lifted up her foot and nailed him in the crotch. He kneeled over and she whacked him in the head, sending him to the floor. Standing up with the chair, she kicked him once more in the head. She then frantically tried to find his knife to cut herself loose. It proved difficult with the chair attached to her, but every time he started to get up again, she delivered another kick to his face. It gave her just enough time to find his knife and snap her ropes. When she was finally free from the chair, she swiftly punched him hard in the face, just because.

She then ran out as fast as she could and tried to find her exit. She was already lost and she knew she would never get out before he caught her, so she tried to at least buy herself a bit of time. She picked up another chair that was close by and rammed it through the window. When she saw that she was a couple stories up, she knew she would never make it to the ground without breaking something. She threw a chain out the window and wrapped it tightly around a beam. It seemed like it would hold her well enough.

She heard the Joker's heavy footsteps running around trying to find her. There was no way she could make it down and out of sight before he found her. She hid behind a large beam, in the hopes that he would think she had climbed down, and prayed he didn't see her.

She listened as he ran up to the window and she assumed he looked out when he said, "Made your escape, did we, doll?" He chuckled. "You won't get far."

When she heard his footsteps depart, she slowly inched out from behind the beam, relieved her plan actually worked. She was about to go to the window when she felt the cold steel of a knife pressed against her throat. Her heart sank. All that work for nothing and she had been so very, very close.

"You've got some kick in you, sweetheart, I'll admit," he said in her ear. "Why are you so afraid of me? Is it the scars?" When she didn't respond, he continued, "Wanna know how I got 'em?" He turned her around to face him. "I used to have friends. I know, hard to believe right? But I had this one friend who bought drugs from some really bad people. One day, after he almost OD'd, he reported them to the police and told those druggies that it was me who reported them so he didn't take the heat for it. They found me and surrounded me. I just smiled, trying not to let them know that they had the upper hand. Well, they didn't like that. 'What's so funny?' they asked. 'What are you smiling at, freak?' they asked. 'We'll give you something to smile at!' they yelled. They took a knife and did this little number on me. By the time the police arrived on the scene, I was bleeding all onto the street and the druggies, well, they got away. And they were never caught. So now, I'm always smiling no matter what's going on."

He removed the knife from her face and began to drag her back.

"No!" she screamed. "Please! No!"

He once more shoved her back into the chair but he didn't tie her up again. Whether he ran out of rope, or he had something else planned, she didn't know. He put the knife to her face and made a small gash on her other cheek vertically rather than horizontally like the other cut. "You know the best way to a make a joke work?" he purred, taking her face in his hands.

She stared at the knife aimed at her face.

"You have someone else in on it."

He went to the door and ushered a man in. Dani found with horror that she was looking into the eyes of Jonathon Crane.

* * *

><p><strong>Oh, I am so evil to leave you with this cliffhanger! :D<strong>

** Don't worry, the next chapter will be uploaded before you know it!**


	11. Scarecrow

**I've kept you waiting long enough! Here is the next chapter!**

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><p>Dani's eyes watered at the sight of the man before her. She knew all about the attacks he had been part of as his other persona, Scarecrow. She had been right in the center of it. And she had a feeling he wasn't here to help her escape.<p>

"Hello, Miss Molina," he said with a smooth voice. If he wasn't such a psycho, most girls would've fallen fast for his rich voice and piercing blue eyes. "I was told I needed to give the Batman a little…push." He removed his glasses and gave her a small smile. "Would you like to see my mask?"

Dani's eyes widened and she frantically shook her head.

He chuckled. "Don't worry, it's not that scary to you. It's the crazies who can't stand it. But you're perfectly sane." He pulled out the burlap mask for Dani to see. "See? It's not so bad."

It was terrible to look at. All the things he had done so long ago came back to her. She chose to remain silent. She had a terrible feeling that he had something else planned.

He put the mask over his face. "But I can make it bad."

Before she could register what he was doing, a puff of terrible smelling smoke flew into her face, making her choke.

When the smoke cleared, she looked back up at Crane's masked face. It became covered in sores and it started to sweat profusely. Just like how her parents looked when they got sick and died. Dani began to hyperventilate in fear. Every single emotion she felt while watching her parents die right before her eyes filled her senses.

"Let's make another video," the Joker laughed. "This is going to be great!"

He pulled out his video camera again as Dani sat in her chair, looking more freaked out than words could describe.

"Better hurry, Batman," Scarecrow growled. "Or this girl is going to lose it. Nice and slowly. Don't worry, I've given her a small dose. The effects will wear off within the hour. And I'll just keep giving her doses until either her mind is lost or you try to save her. Whichever happens first."

The Joker turned the camera to himself. "Isn't this fun?" he giggled. "Just a few more hours left!"

* * *

><p>Bruce stared at the television screen, wanting to look away but finding himself unable to. Dani looked so scared and he couldn't do anything to help her. That blasted fear gas was going to end up killing her painfully if he didn't get to her in time.<p>

"Fox, where are we with this?" he asked the man in the lab.

"I'm trying my hardest, but tracking video feed is harder than you may think. Nearly impossible. I should expect to have something to go on in say…five hours?"

"Dani doesn't have five hours!"

"Mr. Wayne, if you want to try your computer skills and find her, be my guest. Otherwise, let me handle this. I promise that I will do everything in my power to reach her in time."

Bruce looked to the TV again as he watched the Joker tape Dani cowering in the corner. He could only imagine the horrors that the fear gas was putting her through.

* * *

><p>Dani sat in the room, her clothes and hair completely sweat-drenched. Scarecrow had given her four doses of the fear gas so far and she knew that it was only a matter of time before he came back in to give her another one. It was always the same. He gave her a dose of the gas, she went crazy for a little while, then slowly came back down to sanity. Once her brain was clear of the gas, he came in and gave her more. Each time, the memories of watching her parents slowly get killed by the disease that plagued them for over a year rushed back to her. She would see Scarecrow's face become covered in that which killed her parents. Then all of her worst fears would attack her at once and she would hold her head in her hands, willing the terrible images and feelings to leave her.<p>

It was only a few more hours before Batman's deadline. At this point, she didn't know how much more of the fear gas she could take. She wanted to be saved before the Joker took her away, but at the same time, she would do absolutely anything to stop getting dosed with the gas...even if it cost her her life.

Dani sat in the corner waiting for Scarecrow to come back in and dose her once more. Her thoughts reflected to the time spent before she had been taken. She thought back to her break-up with Bruce and all the time she spent avoiding him afterward. Her eyes watered again. She left things terribly with him and now she might die. She could honestly say that the time she had spent with him at work and on their dates were some of the best times of her life, and she had been so stupid to end all of that because she was scared. The kind of scared she had felt then was nothing compared to the scared she felt now.

What if Bruce didn't know that she was gone? What if he didn't even care that she was gone? All she wanted in that moment was to see him again and feel his warm skin against hers as they sat close together, enjoying each other's company. She wanted to see those beautiful eyes look at her and silently tell her that everything was alright. She wanted him to hold her because she had never felt safer than when she was held in his embrace.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Scarecrow came back into the room.

"No, please," she begged. "Please, I'll do anything. Just don't give me anymore of that stuff."

He ever so slightly cocked his head to the right. "Sorry, but if Batman's not here, there's nothing anyone can do."

"But I am here."

Scarecrow turned around and came face to face with the extremely menacing man known as Batman! Dani's eyes widened at the sight of him. How had he even gotten in here? That didn't matter now. She was overwhelmed with relief with the realization that she was saved after almost four days here and the Joker and Scarecrow wouldn't hurt her anymore.

The Joker ran into the room at the sounds of the fight and started laughing. "I knew you would come! The little girl is right there for you. All you have to do to save her is make a little video for me. Showing the world who you really are."

Batman remained silent and proceeded to knock the camera out of his grasp before kicking him in the stomach.

"This just got way more fun!" the Joker laughed. He quickly grabbed the knife from his jacket and sliced the air over and over again in his attempts to immobilize Batman just long enough to remove his mask and get it on camera for the whole world to see. But before that could happen, Batman slammed the Joker's head against the wall, not knocking him out, but certainly keeping him from getting up for a while.

"Hey, Bat!"

Batman whipped around to find Scarecrow with his arm around Dani's neck and a huge canister of what he presumed was filled with the fear gas.

"Take off the mask or I'll spray her with such a huge dose of the gas, it will kill her within minutes."

He looked at Dani's wide eyes. Only she knew exactly what she had gone through these last few days. And he could bet that her time here was anything but pleasant. He stared at the huge gash on her arm and swore to himself that he would never let anyone hurt her like this ever again.

Batman whipped out one of his Batarangs and flung it Scarecrow. It lodged itself into his shoulder. He cried out in pain and sank to the ground, but not before pressing the button that released all the fear gas into Dani's face.

"No!" he screamed.

Dani started gasping and choking and fell to the ground. The memories of her parents' death were tossed at her from every direction in addition to every single thing she feared, physical and psychological. She broke out into a huge sweat and her heart started beating so fast, it was sure to stop very soon.

Scarecrow removed the Batarang from his shoulder as blood poured out of the wound. "Nice try," he said. "But soon she will be dead."

Batman shoved his head against the wall, taking him by the neck. "Why are you helping him?"

"He told me I'd be free from my physical and mental prison. How could I say no?"

Batman slammed the back of his head onto the wall, knocking him out. He went over to Dani and she began to scream at the figure looming over her and tried to cover her eyes. He had no idea what she was seeing when she looked at him, but he knew that it had to be one of her worst nightmares come true. Before he could do anything, he was attacked from behind by the Joker. He managed to kick the psycho off him and attacked the man. He stole a few glances at Dani during his fight. She was losing it fast. If he didn't get her back to the Tumbler soon, he was going to lose her forever. That one thought propelled him to knock the Joker senseless. He kicked and punched him several times then grabbed the chair Dani had been tied to and beat him over the head with it.

He then ran over to Dani, who was not fully conscious, and gently picked her up and proceeded to carry her back out to the Tumbler. She stirred in his arms, took one look at him, and started freaking out in his hold.

"No, please! Stop!" she screamed as she thrashed around in his embrace.

He couldn't carry her back when she was like this and he knew there was no way she would voluntarily go with him. He gently set her down onto the floor and she quickly backed away from him into the wall.

"Stay away from me," she growled as she looked back at him with wide bloodshot eyes and beads of sweat pouring from her face. Her wet hair was matted all around her face and she looked rather terrifying. How had he let this happen? His precious Dani had slowly fallen apart at the seams, and he hadn't been there to protect her like he said he would.

He quickly went over to her and she began to scream again. Her arms whipped all over the place, trying and failing to protect herself from whatever she was seeing. Before she hurt him or herself, he grabbed her arms and squeezed her shoulder in just the right spot. She slumped over into his arms, finally more relaxed.

Wasting no time, he picked her up again and rushed out to the Tumbler. Fully aware that she was being practically pumped full of fear gas, Lucius had given him a small sample of a new antidote he created to counteract prolonged exposure to the gas.

He got her seated into the Tumbler and injected her with the antidote he had been given. After noticing her eyes flutter open slightly and checking her pulse, he got into the driver's seat and sped off back to the Manor.


	12. Trauma

**Phew! Let's just all take a breather from the intensity of the last few chapters! It's all going to calm down for a little while. But...with Bruce, it never stays calm for long...**

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><p>Dani's eyes slowly opened and she was met with a splitting headache. She groaned as she rubbed her temples and looked around her. She was definitely not in the warehouse anymore and for that she couldn't be more grateful. Now she was in a huge bed in a huge room. This place seemed oddly familiar, but she couldn't place it.<p>

"Dani?"

She looked to the doorway at the sound of that beautiful voice. "Bruce?" she asked quietly as she sat up in the bed. Tears began to form in her eyes at the sight of him. He quickly ran over to the bed and sat down next to her. She began to cry, so he took her in his arms and held her close to him, just like she wanted as she was thinking about him between the doses of fear gas.

Dani felt elated at the feeling of being close to him again. It was a thousand times better in his embrace than she remembered.

"Shh, shh," he whispered as he rubbed her hair.

She clutched onto him tightly, afraid to let him go again.

"You're okay," he said into her ear. "You're fine."

She looked around her as they finally broke apart. "How did I even get here?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

She tried to think about what had happened before she awoke here, but everything was hazy. "I don't know," she cried.

"Well, Batman must've found you. I guess he read about us in the papers, so he brought you here to me, knowing you'd be safe here. You were unconscious so I decided to bring you up here. I'm assuming you haven't had a good place to sleep for a while."

"I'm so sorry," she cried softly.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"I left things terribly between us. And then all of this happened. I didn't mean for any of this to go this way…"

"Dani, it's okay. I should be apologizing. I told you I could keep you safe, and I didn't. But I'm not going to let that happen again. I promise."

They embraced once more and it lasted even longer than the first.

* * *

><p>"You'll find everything you need in here," Alfred said to Dani as she prepared to shower. "All the bath supplies are in this cabinet. Towels are in this one."<p>

"Thanks," she said quietly.

"It is good to have you back, Miss Molina."

"Alfred?" she called before he left the bathroom.

He turned to her. "Yes, Miss Molina?"

"Did…did Bruce…care that I was gone?" When she saw the look on his face, she continued, "Look, it's just that…with the way I left things, I figured he would hate me."

"It was the most agonizing three days of his life," Alfred responded. He walked away leaving her alone in the bathroom to think about what he said.

Dani hopped into the shower and began to wash away the torment of the last three days. The water burned her cuts at first, but then slowly began to soothe them. After she washed her hair, more than once, she picked up a bar of soap and began to clean all the dirt and the fear gas off. As she slowly rubbed the soap over her arms and legs, she thought about what she had gone through. The seemingly endless doses of the gas, being tied up for hours, and worst of all, the Joker's hands on her. At that last thought, she began to scrub herself more vigorously, rubbing the soap over every inch of her body, trying to remove all traces of where the Joker had touched her. She began quietly whimpering as she rubbed the soap on her neck more than anywhere else. Her mind kept wandering over to when he touched her face and neck and arms. She slowly stopped scrubbing herself and collapsed onto the shower floor as her body shook with sobs.

* * *

><p>Dani took it easy at the Manor for the next few days. Alfred got her some clothes from her apartment and brought them to her, for which she was more than thankful. As much as she tried to rest, she never really got much sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, the Joker and Scarecrow filled her vision, making it nearly impossible to fall asleep.<p>

Alfred and Bruce made sure that she was never alone in the Manor since that was the last thing she wanted. She probably wouldn't want to be alone for a really long time.

Dani stayed holed up in her room almost all the time. She sat in isolation as her mind took her on journeys that led to all kinds of horrible outcomes. The Joker and Scarecrow still hadn't been caught and she was terrified that they were going to come back for her. There was no way she would ever be able to handle being their captive again, especially if they dosed her with more fear gas. She found herself flinching all the time at even the tiniest of movements in her room for fear that they had found her.

There was a knock on the door which was becoming an increasingly familiar sound.

"Yes?" she called.

Alfred opened the door a crack and she allowed him entrance. "I brought you your dinner, Miss Molina."

"Thanks, Alfred."

He placed the tray of food onto the table in the room. He looked at her sadly, really seeing just how much this had scarred her.

Dani looked at the plate of food, but had no desire whatsoever to eat any of it. In fact, she hadn't really eaten at all these past few days. Her appetite had dropped dramatically and she found that she was never hungry. It was beginning to show too. She could tell that she was becoming thinner. She stood up and forced herself to eat at least some of what was on the tray. After only a few bites, a wave of nausea swept over her and she was forced to lie down. The room was spinning as small drops of sweat dripped down her forehead. She was frustrated that this was all happening to her and she wished more than anything that the Joker had never come for her in the first place.

* * *

><p>After a few days, Bruce decided that Dani really needed some fresh air, so he took her out in his ordinary black Chevrolet in order to not draw attention to them as much as possible. They ate out at a more secluded restaurant to avoid paparazzi. Bruce noticed that Dani looked skittish and nervous the entire time they were in the restaurant. More than a few times, he noticed that she looked around the entire restaurant, observing its occupants. As much as he tried to help her relax, all his efforts proved futile. After the two of them headed back to the car, Bruce opened the door for her and she smiled at him, but he could see that the smile was clearly a fake one.<p>

Before she could get in, she overheard two men talking to each other.

"Man, that is one sick scar!" one said as the other flashed his arm revealing a very, very long pale line.

"Wanna know how I got this scar?"

At those words, Dani's heart nearly stopped. Her head whipped up at the sound of them. She looked around her, and everywhere on the street, the Joker stood there, smiling at her. Her eyes widened in horror at what she was seeing. To the right, the left, and directly in front of her, he stood there over her. Her breathing quickened significantly and she began to hyperventilate.

"Dani?" she heard Bruce's voice say, though it seemed like it was a thousand miles away.

She saw black spots cross her vision, and before she knew it, her legs gave way and she fell into Bruce's arms.

* * *

><p>Dani awoke to another headache. She looked up and saw that she was on the couch in the Manor where the two of them had had their movie date.<p>

Bruce sighed next to her.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You fainted right in the middle of the street."

Dani blushed. This was humiliating. She laughed shakily. "It's just…I heard someone ask someone else if he wanted to know how he got his scar. Hearing those words made me think of when the Joker asked me that."

Bruce sighed again. He was no stranger to the alleged stories the Joker told as to how he got his scars. He wondered what story he had crafted for Dani.

"In that moment, all those memories of what happened to me came rushing back to me all at once, including all the emotions I experienced. I guess it was just a little too much for me to take at one time."

"Dani…"

"I'm going to go shower. Maybe I can clear my head."

She went up to the bathroom and hopped into the shower. After cleaning herself off, she just sat down on the shower floor and leaned against the wall, letting the hot water sprinkle down on top of her.

She lost track of just how long she sat there until she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"Dani? Are you alright in there?" she heard Bruce ask through the door.

She realized that she had probably been in the shower for well over twenty minutes and he most likely thought she had fainted again.

"Yeah," she called back. "Sorry, just give me a minute."

She turned the water off and stepped out, layering the floor with puddles of water. She then dried herself off and put her clothes on before exiting the bathroom.


	13. What Happened to Dani

Bruce saw that Dani was in pain and he didn't blame her. She still hadn't completely told him everything that had happened after she had been taken by the Joker. All he knew was that at some point, the Joker made two cuts on her face and one huge gash on her arm, and she had been subjected to fear gas but he had no idea how much. He didn't ask about it because he didn't want to upset her in any way. He figured when she was ready, she would talk to him about it. However, he was getting a little worried about her. She usually remained holed up in her room all the time, and it had not escaped his notice that she was getting skinnier by the day which meant she wasn't eating right.

He came back from his Batman patrol and changed into regular clothes when he heard screaming upstairs…from Dani's room. Faster than he thought possible, he ran up to her room and flung the door open, half-expecting the Joker to be there. After all, he and the Scarecrow still hadn't been caught.

When the door opened, he was met with a Joker-less room. His head whipped to Dani and he saw her screaming and thrashing around in her sleep. He ran over to her and made several attempts for her arms. He had to duck twice to avoid her flying arms from hitting him.

"Dani!" he screamed. After he finally got a good grip on her wrists, he cried, "Dani! Wake up!"

Her eyes popped open and she started gasping.

"It's okay!" he said quickly. "It's me."

She sat up as her eyes began to shine with more tears. He sat down next to her and held her once more. "It's okay," he whispered. "It was just a nightmare."

"It wasn't a nightmare," she sobbed. "It was real."

He made the correct assumption that she had been dreaming about her time in captivity. It tore him apart to see her so upset and distressed by what had happened. He pulled her close to him as she cried into his shirt, releasing all of her pent-up feelings.

When she had finally calmed down, he knew that there was no way she was going to fall back to sleep again easily. So he took her hand and led her down to the screening room. She sat on the couch while he left and went to the kitchen. When he came back, he presented her with a mug of hot chocolate. She gave him a small smile as she realized what he was doing and took the mug from him. He then grabbed a blanket and turned on the TV after sitting down next to her. She propped her feet up on the couch and leaned onto him as he pulled the blanket over the both of them. They flipped through the endless amount of channels Bruce had access to and spent a good bit of time on the couch.

Pretty soon, Dani's eyes became heavy and she could feel herself drifting off into sleep. Even though she fought to keep her eyes open for fear of more nightmares, her body overpowered her mind. Eventually, she rested onto Bruce's shoulder and dozed off.

Bruce looked over at the girl lying on him. He still felt responsible for all of this. She should've been at home getting a full night's sleep, rather than be plagued with endless nightmares. He gently moved a little and took her up in his arms, blanket and all. Then he carried her upstairs and placed her down in the bed before pulling the covers over her sleeping form. Before he left the room, he leaned over her and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. Her skin felt hot under his lips which sent goosebumps up his arms. Not once had that ever happened with any other girl he had ever dated. Not even Rachel.

* * *

><p>It was well past three in the morning a few nights later when Bruce found Dani curled up on the couch. It had been a slow night on his patrol, so he had called it quits earlier than usual.<p>

"Dani?"

Her head turned and she gave him a small awkward smile. He walked into the room and sat down next to her.

"Still couldn't sleep, huh?"

She slowly shook her head in response. "It's getting better, though. The nightmares aren't as bad. But they're not gone."

He told himself he wouldn't ask, but this was getting a little out of hand. "Dani, what happened to you?"

She took a deep breath and turned to him. "I came home after work, and there he was. The Joker. Just standing in the middle of my apartment as if he had been there a thousand times before. I tried to run, but he knocked me out. When I woke up, I was tied to a chair. And he was there, just standing over me. He told me he took me because he knew that Batman would come and save me, and he wanted to expose him. After he left, I managed to get out of the ropes, but he caught me before I could find a way out of the place. He cut me on my face and on my arm as punishment for trying to escape." She moved her pajama shirt enough to show Bruce the gash the Joker had left that was beginning to fade. "That's when he made me record the first video. I got out again only for my escape attempt to once again be stopped, and I received this other cut. When he took me back, he introduced me to the Scarecrow. And I started receiving doses of the fear gas. He said it was to give Batman a push or something to come save me faster. I got four doses of it before Batman came. I remember getting dosed with a huge amount of fear gas and I couldn't begin to explain what happened to me after that. I just know that Batman was there for me. In my biggest moment of weakness."

"Dani, I am…I'm so sorry I let this happen," Bruce said quietly. "I told you that you could feel safe with me, and then…"

"No, Bruce, don't blame yourself. It's my fault. I broke off the best relationship of my life just because I was scared…of you." She laughed lightly. "I was scared that if we spent any more time together, you'd realize that you didn't really like me the way you thought you did. I mean, look at me. There's nothing about me that even comes close to the models you're usually seen around. And when you realized that, I'd be left alone again. Don't get me wrong, I was stalked before. That was the truth. But the fear of people taking pictures of me being possible stalkers didn't even cross my mind until I subconsciously started looking for any reason not to see you anymore. And then when I was taken, all I wanted was to see you again. To make up for letting what we had fall apart."

"I never want you to think that way. And I promise that I will never let this happen again. You mean everything to me, Dani."

She looked over at him. His eyes were showing something that she couldn't quite explain. His lips looked so…inviting. And so she took that invitation. Before either of them could back out, she pressed her lips to his in a tender kiss. His hand went up and caressed her neck, completely wiping out any traces of the Joker's touch. She deepened the kiss as her hand touched the back of his head. It was the best moment of her life.

* * *

><p>Dani's eyes fluttered open. She realized that she was still on the couch lying next to Bruce, wrapped in his embrace. The memories of what happened last night came back to her. Her head was resting on his chest as his arm pulled her closer to him. She looked up at him and saw him slowly stir awake.<p>

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey," he whispered back as he placed a kiss to her head.

"You know, if someone told me a year ago that I would be kissing Bruce Wayne, I would have thought they were crazy."

"Believe it. Because it's completely real."

Their lips met as they kissed again. Dani rested her head on his chest again and his hand slowly went up and down on her shoulder. They just laid there on the couch in silence, completely happy with their current state.


	14. The Joker Returns

**So to recap, Dani and Bruce have finally kissed each other after Dani confronted her fears and memories about her time in captivity. And now, because Bruce's life never stays calm for a while, I present you with chapter 14.**

* * *

><p>There was a knock on the front door and Dani called out, "I've got it, Alfred!" She opened the huge door and saw a familiar female standing in front of her.<p>

"Dani?"

"Nadia?"

The woman flung herself through the door and into the arms of the friend she hadn't seen in weeks. Dani clutched onto her tightly.

"What…what happened?" Nadia asked in a panicked voice.

"It's a really, really long story."

"You haven't been in your apartment for weeks now. I saw the news reports with those psychos. Are you alright?"

Dani smiled. "Whoa, calm down, Nadia. Take a seat and I'll explain everything."

Dani led her to the couches and told her everything that had happened to her from the time she was taken to the events that transpired the night before.

"Wow," Nadia breathed when Dani finished her story.

"Is that all you can say?" Dani laughed.

"Well, what else do you expect me to say? Jeez, Dani, how were you able to put up with all that? The Joker and the Scarecrow are some of the most terrifying figures Gotham has ever faced and you were alone with them? How are you handling all this?"

"I wasn't. I had nightmares for days and I stopped eating, and all I could think was that they were going to come back for me. But last night, something just happened, and I'm not so afraid anymore."

"Oh, really? Would a certain billionaire have anything to do with that?"

Dani just laughed at her friend's playful tone.

"So you're back with Bruce Wayne, are you?"

"Yeah, I am," Dani smiled.

"Hard to believe the infamous playboy has finally found someone for keeps."

"The whole playboy thing was such an act. An act that I'm not sure why he put on. It must've been for a good reason, but nothing comes to mind on what it could possibly be."

Bruce walked into the room to find the two girls talking, evidently about him. "Who is this lovely lady?"

The two of them stood up. "This is my neighbor and friend, Nadia," Dani introduced. "She came by to check up on me."

"That's nice of you," Bruce said as he shook her hand. He turned to Dani. "I've got a meeting to go to, so I'll see you later."

"Isn't it kind of late for you to be going to a meeting?"

"The pleasures of owning Wayne Enterprises." He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"This is insane," Nadia said after he left. "My friend, dating Bruce Wayne."

"Believe me, I never expected this to happen in a million years. But I've never been happier than when I'm with him. I just feel like he gets me, and I get him."

"That is so romantic," Nadia gushed. "I'm happy for you both. But if you guys break up again, let me know who needs some hurting put on them."

Dani laughed. "You're a good friend, Nadia."

* * *

><p>As Bruce went down to the Batcave below the Manor, his thoughts drifted over to Dani again and again. Alfred was already there to help him get suited up and take off.<p>

"I haven't seen Dani smile in almost a month," Bruce said quietly. "I'm going to find them and make them pay for what they did to her."

"Master Wayne, I must warn you against making this personal. The more personal it is, the harder it will be for you to keep your rule."

"I'm not going to kill them, Alfred."

"A lot of things can happen in the heat of the moment, sir."

"No, I won't kill them." But even Bruce was beginning to doubt himself. Perhaps Alfred was right and he shouldn't go after them when it was this personal. But he couldn't bear the idea of having Dani be taken again, so he forced himself to try to push all personal feelings aside and look for the villains.

Locating Scarecrow was not very hard as Crane was not known for finding good hiding spots. He was found lurking in parts of the Narrows, and he was almost sure that he was looking for Dani. With that thought, he swooped down on the man and quickly overpowered him.

"Why are you here?" he growled.

"He needed the girl again," Crane choked out, his oxygen supply cut off as Batman firmly gripped his throat.

"Why?!"

"He's figured out that the Batman is actually in love with someone, even though she's Bruce Wayne's girl. Which means you'll do anything to save her, including doing whatever he wants from you."

This. Was. Bad. Bruce hoped against hope that this didn't mean the Joker knew his real identity. He head-butted Crane and delivered him to Arkham Asylum where he was gladly taken back to his cell. He didn't worry about Crane escaping again. The only reason he had escaped in the first place was because the Joker helped him escape. If he could just make it so that the Joker could not escape again, everything would be okay and Dani could feel safe again.

Not knowing where else to start, he went back to the warehouse where Dani had been held captive, hoping to find some kind of clue.

That's just what he found. And what he found made his stomach tie into a thousand knots.

Right in the center of the empty room where he had found Dani, an eerie yellow light from above surrounded the empty chair Dani had been tied to. Lying on the seat was a small piece of folded paper with the words "Mr. Batman" written on it.

"Dear Batboy," the note read. "I knew you would come back here to try to find me, so while you did that, I went to the house of the sweetheart's sweetheart. Better hurry! Who knows what I might've done to her by now?"

Bruce ran as fast as he could back to the Tumbler and drove faster than ever before back to the Manor. What if he was too late? What if the Joker had hurt Dani again? She had just gotten over all of her horrid experiences and he didn't think she could go through all of that once more.

Bruce drove to the front of the Manor and hopped out of the Tumbler to find that the front door had been blown to pieces. He walked in to find Alfred on his knees with his hands tied behind him and a very terrified Dani in the Joker's hold with a gun pointed to her head.

"I see you got my little note," he laughed. "Here's what going to happen. Either you take off that mask and show who you are to the world, or I'll kill this girl you seem to be so in love with and then I'll kill off the old man!"

Batman looked at Dani's wide eyes, silently pleading with him to do something. Once again, he had failed to keep his promise to her. She was in danger again, and he hadn't been there for her like he said he would.

The Joker threw Dani onto the ground, still aiming the gun at her head. "Make your choice!" he squealed. Dani's hands went up defensively, as if the gun was being pointed to her front rather than her back. The gun flipped back and forth from Dani to Alfred as the Joker toyed with his mind.

Batman's hands slowly went up to his cowl as if he was about to remove his mask. He noticed the Joker tense up when he saw that he may finally be getting what he wanted. Then quicker than the speed of light, Batman took a Batarang and flung it at the Joker, knocking the gun out of his grasp and sending it clattering to the floor.

Now that the Joker was defenseless, Batman ran over to him and a huge fight erupted between them as they crashed into the next room, knocking over several objects in the process.

Dani relaxed onto the floor in heaving breaths. Her mind was reeling as she tried to process what exactly had just happened. All those weeks of living in fear of his return and he had done just that. Her thoughts were interrupted by the motion she saw next to her and she was reminded that the butler was on the floor next to her.

"Alfred," she mustered out as she went over to him. She quickly undid the ropes that restrained his arms. The two of them slowly stood up.

"Are you alright, Miss Molina?"

She nodded as he took her in his arms. Who was she kidding? She was so far from alright. All the memories that the Joker had given her in her time of captivity came rushing back the second that sadistic face was in her vision.

They both turned to the room to hear the sounds of the ensuing fight between Batman and the Joker. She left the safety and comfort of Alfred's arms to go see what exactly was happening. Blood caked the floor in several different spots, but she couldn't say whose it was. From the looks of it, both men were bleeding heavily.

Batman was holding the Joker against the wall by the neck. She could see that he was holding something against him. His sharp blades on his gauntlet, it looked like? The thing was he looked ready to kill him, which she knew went against everything he stood for. The Joker said that Batman was in love with her (which was awkward since she was dating Bruce, but there was no time to think about that now). Perhaps this was more personal and the usual fire inside of him was multiplied by a lot.

"No!" she cried out. He whipped his head around to look at her while keeping the Joker pinned against the wall. "This is not who you are."

Batman looked at her with the permanent scowl on his face. Despite all that, his eyes showed a completely different emotion. He head-butted the Joker and the man fell limp. Before she could even think, he took off out of the Manor and delivered Arkham their escaped criminal. They secured him in a wing of his own so tightly that it would be physically impossible for him to get out. In fact, making an escape attempt would take so much effort that if he even did get out, he'd be so exhausted by the end that they could easily recapture him.

He had done it. He had successfully taken out the two men responsible for hurting the one person who meant the most to him. And he hadn't broken his rule to do so.


	15. Getting Back to Work

"Dani!" Bruce called as he walked through the door.

"Bruce!" she screamed as she ran into his arms.

"What happened here?"

"I'm afraid we had a break-in, Master Wayne," Alfred said as he walked in on them.

"It's all on the news!"

"It was the Joker," Dani told him.

"What?"

"He broke in and threatened to kill me and Alfred, but the Batman came in and saved the both of us."

"You mean I broke my promise again? After all this, I told you I wouldn't let this happen to you ever again, and it did."

"No. Don't blame yourself. You had business. You can't put your entire life on hold to make sure that I'm okay."

The two of them hugged tightly. Bruce nodded to Alfred, and he nodded back.

"I'm so glad you're safe," he said quietly to Dani. "You don't have to worry about them anymore. The Batman captured them both and took them back to Arkham Asylum."

"They broke out once before. What if they do it again?"

"It's impossible. Now that they know how the Joker got out before, they secured him so tightly, he literally can't get out of Arkham ever again."

"And the Scarecrow?"

"He only got out because of the Joker. He can't break out of there himself. So he won't be getting out either. They're never going to hurt you again. That is one promise I can't break."

Dani kissed him hard on the lips and hugged him tightly, feeling safer than ever in his strong arms.

* * *

><p>Dani went to the library in the Manor to choose a book to read to pass the time. When she walked in, she swore it was bigger than the library in <em>Beauty and the Beast<em>. It was absolutely huge! She shouldn't have been surprised since the rest of the Manor was overwhelming in size, but she was in shock all the same.

The shelves reached far higher than she could stand. She noticed there was a ladder propped up on one of the shelves. In an effort to see what was on the higher shelves, she grabbed the ladder and pushed it over to the shelf she wanted to look at. As she climbed the ladder, she noticed it wasn't very stable against the shelf. She tried not to look down as she climbed up higher and higher, feeling it wobble beneath her. Her eyes scanned the titles of the various colored books. She reached over to grab one when she heard Bruce's voice.

"Find anything you like?"

His presence startled her so much that she let out a small scream of surprise. The book fell to the floor and so did she. Her feet slipped off the ladder and she screamed as she fell off the rungs. Bruce ran under her and caught her before she hit the ground.

He chuckled lightly. "It's okay, I've got you."

She laughed awkwardly, trying to relax her very tensed up body.

"I didn't mean to startle you."

"Well, you did," she said with false anger as she lightly hit him on the chest. She hadn't failed to notice that she was still in his arms. Truth be told, she didn't really mind.

"At least I finally kept my promise to you."

Dani responded to his gentle words with a deep kiss.

* * *

><p>For the first time in nearly two months, Dani decided it was finally time for her to go back to work.<p>

Bruce offered to drive her and she didn't object. They pulled up and he put his arm around her shoulders and they walked into the building with confidence. Dani noticed the stares she was getting, but she didn't care in the slightest. After what she had gone through in the last couple of months, she was not going to allow these people to influence her decisions again, especially when it came to her relationship. She found that she had received a new outlook on life because of her experiences and realized she couldn't take anything for granted. With Bruce by her side as they walked up to Mr. Rubel's office, she was at ease.

"Mr. Rubel?" she said as she stepped into the man's office, Bruce still by her side.

"Dani?" he happily exclaimed as he gave her a quick hug. "It's so good to have you back!"

"It's kinda good to be back."

"I'll let you guys get to work," Bruce said. He gave Dani a quick peck on the lips. "I'll see you later tonight."

"Bye, Bruce."

"So, you and Bruce are back together," Mr. Rubel said after he had left the room. "For good?"

"I think so this time," Dani laughed.

"You've really been missed around here. You have no idea how worried we all were when we saw those videos on the news."

"Look, with all due respect, sir, I don't really want to talk about what happened."

"Fair enough. In that case, we'll get right to business." He gave her a couple jobs to do and Dani found that it was easy to pick back up where they had left off. As she left the room, Mr. Rubel peeked his head out of his office door. "Dani." She turned back to him. "It really is good to have you back."

* * *

><p>Dani's work resumed as normal. Pretty much everyone was asking her if she was okay and wanted her to talk about what happened to her when she was taken. Each time, she gently explained that she didn't want to talk about it and most of them respected her decision. Some pried further, but she was very adamant that she was not going to describe her experiences.<p>

When she refused to answer those questions, they all queried about her relationship with the famous Bruce Wayne. She allowed herself to talk a little bit about that, but didn't go into too much detail. Some things, she just wanted to keep between her and Bruce. Like what actually happened to her in her time of captivity.

Sometimes, she and Bruce would meet up for lunch or go out for dinner after she clocked out and then they went back to the Manor.

Dani had indirectly just moved into the Manor. She felt so much safer there than her own home for obvious reasons. Every time she wanted to try to go back, all she could think about was the Joker standing in the middle of her apartment, and she would chicken out.

All the same, she felt like she was intruding in Bruce's home and felt compelled to move back into her own place. If she brought that up with him though, he would just insist that she was fine where she was.

Despite her want to return home, she had never felt happier than when she was with him. He just made her feel so safe and wanted. She hadn't felt that in a very, very long time.

However, there was something nagging at the back of her mind like a flickering candle, and she needed to put it to rest as soon as possible.

* * *

><p>"Do you think you could do me a favor?" Dani asked Bruce as he drove the both of them back to the Manor.<p>

"Depends on what the favor is," Bruce laughed.

"Well, you seem to know the Batman. And I was hoping that I could see him. He's saved my life three times. I have to at least thank him."

"Something tells me he's not the kind of guy who accepts thank-you's."

"Yeah, I know, but I guess I feel kinda guilty that he's done so much to help me and I've done nothing for him. All I did was try to hurt him when all he was doing was trying to help me."

"You were dosed with fear gas. I'm sure he understands."

"Are you going to try to help me or not?"

"Look, as much as I appreciate everything he's done for you, I don't think I could get in contact with him if I wanted to. He's not the kind of person who carries a cell phone on him. The only time I've ever talked to him was when he brought you to me at the Manor, and even then it was only a three sentence conversation."

Dani sighed. "Fine. I guess you're right."

Bruce released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. She had gotten just a bit too close. She was off the trail for now. But with their relationship moving forward, how long would it be before she figured it out?


	16. Dani's Plan

**I've officially made it to 50 followers! :D I can't thank you all enough! This is the most followers I've ever gotten on any story! You all are incredible!**

**Only one more chapter left!**

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><p>Dani walked into the Gotham Police Station during her lunch break.<p>

"Hi," she said to the cop sitting at the front desk. "I'm here to see Commissioner Gordon."

"I'm afraid he's busy right now," the cop responded.

"No, I'm not," the aged man said as came out behind the desk.

"Sorry, sir," the cop said flustered. "I thought you were doing something else."

"No worries." He looked at Dani. "Hey, you're that girl the Joker showed on TV when he escaped from Arkham."

Dani internally sighed. Why couldn't everyone understand that she was trying to suppress those memories? She forced a smile at him. "I guess everyone in Gotham knows me as either the girl the Joker kidnapped or the girl who's dating Bruce Wayne."

He smiled back at her. "What can I help you with?" he asked.

"Um, can we speak in private?"

"Of course. Right this way." He directed her back to his office and shut the door firmly behind him. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to alarm you. In the long run, I guess it really isn't that important. And it's nothing bad, trust me. But it's something that I really need to figure out and…Sorry, I ramble when I'm nervous."

"Just tell me what's on your mind," he said with a kind smile.

Dani observed him. He had wrinkles to go with his graying hair and an overall very kind demeanor about him. She felt so at ease with him. She assumed after working on the force for years, he had learned how to make the people he spoke with feel comfortable talking to him.

"I need to see the Batman," she said bluntly.

There was a very awkward silence for a few seconds as he took in what she was requesting.

"I have to," she continued. "It's just that…he's saved my life three times and I've never gotten the chance to say or do anything for him."

"He refuses to accept thank-you's."

"I know, that's what Bruce said. But it's eating away at me and I feel guilty all the same. If I could just see him once when I'm not in a life-and-death situation…"

The silence once again filled the room which made Dani feel a bit uneasy. She really needed this and if he didn't help her, she didn't know where else to go.

"I know that you have that signal on top of the MCU building. I thought that maybe you could turn it on and he'll come see me."

"I turn it on all the time and he doesn't usually show," he told her.

"Then I'll wait for as long as I have to until he does show. But you don't understand. I have to see him."

Dani anxiously awaited his reply. Each second passed by painstakingly slow. Finally, he turned to look at her.

"Alright, we can try this."

"Thank you so much!" she breathed.

"Meet me on the roof of the MCU building at nine tonight. And bring something to do. You'll most likely be waiting a while."

Dani left his office with a huge grin on her face. Things were finally working out to her benefit and tonight she just might solve the mystery sitting in the back of her mind.

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><p>It had been several hours since Dani had first arrived on the roof. She had made some pleasant conversation with Commissioner Gordon and had gotten to learn more about him and his family.<p>

She looked up at the sky for the millionth time. The symbol of a bat lit up the sky in a single spotlight, signaling for the masked man.

"Don't be discouraged if he doesn't show up," Gordon remarked.

"This is important," Dani said. "I'll wait here as many nights as I have to until he does come."

"Suit yourself."

Dani chuckled lightly. They waited for a couple more hours and the sun began to rise in the east. Dani sighed as she realized that he was not going to come tonight.

"I'm sorry," Gordon said to her.

"It's really okay. I'm all ready to do this again for however long I need to."

"You're persistent, I'll give you that. In the meantime, I suggest you go home and get some rest."

Dani smiled. "Yes, sir."

He escorted her back downstairs and Dani had every intention of coming back that night to sit and wait for him again. She could wait as long as she had to.

Dani trudged back to the Manor and went immediately upstairs and collapsed onto the bed.

There was a knock on the door.

"Hmm?" Dani mumbled.

"I've brought you some breakfast, Miss Molina," Alfred said as came into the room with a tray of food.

"Okay, just leave it there. Thanks, Alfred."

"Late night?"

"You have no idea."

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><p>Dani went back up to the roof of the MCU building where the bat-symbol was already in the sky for all to see.<p>

"Evening, Dani," Gordon said.

"Hello, sir."

"Ready for Round Two?"

"You betcha!"

Once again, Dani found herself waiting for hours for the vigilante to show up. She was about to just turn in because she was exhausted from their last all-nighter when heavy feet landed on the rooftop.

Dani gasped as she turned around and saw the vigilante looking as terrifying as ever.

"You're here," she said quietly.

"You're the one the Joker took."

Dani almost groaned. Even the Batman bought up the experience she was trying to push down. "Yeah, that's me. I don't believe I ever properly introduced myself. I'm Daniella Molina, but everyone calls me Dani."

She held out her hand for him to shake but he made no move to repeat the gesture, so she ended up awkwardly putting her hand down.

She turned to Gordon. "Could you give us a couple minutes, please?"

"Sure thing." He left the rooftop and Dani's heart started pounding when she fully realized that she was alone with someone who scared her, despite their previous encounters.

"I…um…" she stuttered. Now that he was actually here in front of her, she became completely tongue-tied. "I wanted to thank you for saving me all those times."

"You don't need to thank me," he answered gruffly. How he didn't lose his voice all the time, she didn't know.

"I know, but _I_ needed to. I don't know, I guess I felt almost guilty for all of this and you never even hearing those two words that can make such a difference."

"I was doing what was required."

"I can never thank you enough. You saved me from the Joker and I'll never forget that. You were there for me when I needed you the most."

"I'll always be there." He turned around and Dani realized that he was about to leave. But she still hadn't gotten her answer.

"Wait!" she called before he made his escape. "There's something else."

He turned back around to face her.

"I did want to thank you, but I also wanted to…uh…"

She went up to him, took his face in her hands, and pressed her lips firmly to his. She could sense his surprise, but then she felt him melt into the kiss with her. She could feel the protruding nose on the cowl digging into her cheek, and it didn't matter to her in the slightest. She had gotten her answer.

She removed her lips from his and placed her head against the side of his cowl. "Hi, Bruce," she whispered.

Their eyes met for only a second and she could see them noticeably widen. Before either of them could say anything, he took off and dove off the rooftop. Dani rushed over to the edge and watched as he glided out of sight.

She couldn't believe it. Her initial assumption was right. Her boyfriend, Bruce Wayne, was the Batman.

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><p><strong>Oohh, so now Dani knows! Okay, just one more chapter left :D<strong>


	17. Dani and Bruce

**Alright, here it is...the last chapter in my Batman fanfiction. I can't thank all of you enough who decided to favorite, follow, and review. Seriously, I'm so proud. Enjoy :)**

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><p>Dani sat on the couch, absolutely wide awake, despite the complete lack of sleep over the course of the last two nights.<p>

Her mind was still reeling at her newfound revelation that the person who had been such a big part of her life was also the masked man who had been running around Gotham at night saving people and putting a stop to mob bosses.

The sky was a bright orange as the sun slowly rose on a new day as if Dani's world hadn't just rocked completely.

She heard footsteps and could feel her heart rate increase ever so slightly at the thought of the necessary conversation that was about to come. She turned around and saw Bruce in his regular clothes with a very haggard expression on his face, apparently dreading the upcoming conversation as much as she was.

"I knew you had to come home eventually," she said to him.

He sighed and ran his hands through his messy hair. "What gave it away?"

She stood up from the couch and slowly went over to him. "I started thinking about everything that had gone on with you. Like why it was here of all places that I woke up after I was saved from the Joker, how when I told you I thought Batman was watching me, I stopped seeing him after that night, when you told me at the gala that you understood more than anyone about putting on masks, how Batman seemed so much more aggressive when I was in trouble, and why I almost never saw you in the Manor at night. But I guess I really started thinking it was you when the Joker said that Batman was in love with me. After that, everything else just started falling into place."

Bruce sighed again and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Look, Bruce…I'm not mad. I mean, I do wish that you had told me, but I understand your reasons for not doing so. I know what it means to wear a mask. Maybe not the way you do physically, but I get it. Not one person at Wayne Enterprises knows I live in the Narrows. I never even told Mr. Rubel. I put on the façade that I lived the perfect life in the perfect home with the perfect background. The truth is that my life couldn't be more broken. I live in the poorest part of town, I can barely afford to pay all my expenses…and my family is dead. My mother died giving birth to my sister who was only in this world for a few hours. My father couldn't live with the guilt and went into major depression. He eventually OD'd and I couldn't get him to the hospital in time. From then on, I was shoved from foster home to foster home. Finally, when I turned eighteen, I was free to live my own life. I bought my home in the Narrows after finally inheriting the money my parents had left for me, and attended Gotham University. I worked a few odd jobs, but I never made my living until my professor called me telling me to apply at Wayne Enterprises. That was the first time my future ever looked like it had purpose. I've never told anyone this, not even Nadia. I can't risk my mask coming off and having people know me for who I really am."

She looked into Bruce's eyes and could see shock from the fact that she had just poured out her life story and just what had happened in her past, but that was clouded over still by the worry about his secret being revealed.

He turned around and began to walk up the stairs.

"Bruce!" she called. "Look, this doesn't change anything."

"No, it changes everything."

"Well, it doesn't change the way I feel about you!"

"Dani…"

"It doesn't change the way I feel about you because I love you!" she blurted.

Bruce finally turned to look at her. "What did you say?"

"I love you."

Bruce descended the stairs and came close to her. "Really?"

Dani's stomach lurched. He wasn't saying anything back. Maybe he didn't feel the same way about her, in which case this situation would be a thousand times more awkward than it already was.

All of her doubts were extinguished when Bruce touched the side of her face with his hand. "I love you too," he said quietly.

Dani reached up and placed her lips onto his in a passionate kiss. His arms squeezed her torso while hers clung around his neck as she deepened the kiss with him. When they were forced to break for air, she rested her head on his shoulder as they stayed in their tight embrace.

"Want to see something?" he asked quietly in her ear. She smiled at him, obviously getting what he was referring to, and nodded.

He took her hand and led her to the study where a gorgeous piano sat. He played six strange sounding notes and she watched in amazement as a portion of the bookcase opened before her eyes. They walked through the opening and went to an elevator that took them well below the Manor's floors. She was brought into a ginormous cave. When she looked up at the ceiling, she saw hundreds of bats hanging down, which admittedly freaked her out, but she hid it well. She looked around in awe and wonder at the secret place that had been literally right under her nose for months.

"This is incredible," she breathed.

"I'm glad you like it," Bruce laughed. "This is where I keep everything relating to Batman."

He showed her where he kept the Tumbler and his Batsuit, along with his numerous bat-related weapons.

"What is it like to fly over the city?" she asked him.

"It's…unlike anything you'll ever feel in your entire life."

"Why did you even decide to do all of this?"

"It's a long story."

"Hey, I poured out mine, now you pour out yours."

He smiled at her. "When I was eight years old, I witnessed my mother and father being shot by a man named Joe Chill. After that night, I harbored a certain kind of hate that wouldn't go away. Alfred raised me and I ended up going to Princeton for a couple years. I came back to Gotham when Chill was about to be released because he was willing to give up information about Carmine Falcone. I went to the hearing with the full intention of…of killing Chill. I even brought a pistol with me hidden in my jacket. But one of Falcone's assassins killed him before I got the chance. After that I stowed away on a ship and to all of Gotham, I was a dead man."

"I remember that," Dani said. "It was all over the news. No one knew what happened to you."

"I was thrown in jail and later approached by Henri Ducard, a member of the League of Shadows working for Ra's Al Ghul, and he asked me to join them. I trained with them for months on end, learning fighting skills and tactics that were essential in battle. My time there came to an end when they told me to kill a man who had stolen from his neighbor. I couldn't go through with it and instead I killed Ra's Al Ghul and the place went up in flames. I saved Ducard's life and went back to Gotham for the first time in seven years. With the help of Lucius Fox, I got the Batsuit, the Tumbler, and pretty much every weapon Batman uses."

"Hold it, Mr. Fox knows about you?"

"I tried to keep the secret from him at first, but he eventually found out."

"So all this time I was working at Wayne Enterprises, my boss knew who Batman really was? That's going to be fun when I go back to work..."

Bruce laughed again and continued his story. "I set everything up down here and became the Batman."

"And that's when the fear gas came around, right?"

"Yes, Jonathon Crane was actually working for Ra's Al Ghul, who I found out later was actually Henri Ducard."

"Wait a minute, the guy who asked you to join them was actually the leader?"

"Exactly. And when he came back to Gotham, he tried to kill me, but Alfred saved me and I in turn saved Gotham."

Dani took a deep breath. "This is…quite the life you lead."

He took a step closer to her. "Does it scare you?"

"Yes. But I don't care." She in turn stepped closer to him. "You've saved my life three times. And undoubtedly countless others. If anything, this makes me fall for you that much more."

Bruce smiled and put his arms around her waist. "You know, what would you have done if it wasn't me that you kissed on the roof of MCU?"

Dani laughed. "I would've bragged to all my friends how it was the Batman who kissed me."

The two of them laughed together before Bruce touched her lips with his in a warm, tender kiss.

They stood there in the middle of the cave kissing for longer than they ever had before. They could hear the bats above them rustling around as if the couple's presence made them uncomfortable. But as they stood there in their tight embrace, neither one of them could find it within themselves to care.

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><p><strong>And that's the end! I hope you all enjoyed the story and I didn't disappoint! I'm hoping to include a one-shot idea that's rattling around inside my brain, so I'll try to upload that as soon as possible. Until then, I can't thank you all enough for reading!<strong>


	18. Epilogue

**As promised, here is the one-shot I had planned out!**

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><p><em>2 years later<em>

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><p>Bruce fiddled with the object in his hand, inspecting it over and over again to make sure it was okay.<p>

"Feeling alright, Master Wayne?" Alfred said with a smile.

"I'm so nervous," he confessed. "I'm Bruce Wayne, I'm not supposed to feel nervous!"

Alfred chuckled. "Despite the interesting life you lead, you are still human. Don't be nervous. You'll be fine."

Bruce escorted Dani hand in hand to his private garden. They had spent many nights out here talking for hours, sometimes until the sun showed its face in the sky. It was their favorite place to pass the time away.

Ever since she found out his identity, she had begun to help him on his little "outings" by staying in communication with him while she was in the Batcave in order to look up things on his computer or be ready to go after him if a serious emergency occurred. She had also insisted that he teach her how to fight because she was tired of feeling so scared and vulnerable. Despite everything, she was still a bit on edge about the Joker and Scarecrow's sudden intrusion on her life. Bruce was happy to oblige and spent a lot of time teaching her the fighting techniques he had learned in his time with the League of Shadows.

Dani had been very clear that even though she lived in the Manor with him, she was not going to sleep in the same room as him. That was something she was reserving for her husband. That was how she had been raised and it was how she was going to go about her relationship with Bruce. He of course respected her beliefs.

"Dani," Bruce said. He pulled her in front of him so that his arms wrapped around her waist and she had her own arms around his neck. "I love you."

"I love you too."

He placed his lips on hers and they shared a beautiful kiss, one of many.

"When I saw you that first night at my party, you looked so beautiful and so incredibly nervous. But not the same kind of nervous that every girl seems to feel around me, and that's when I knew you were different from anyone I'd ever met. Right then, I thought you were the most beautiful girl I'd ever laid eyes on."

Dani looked at him, wondering why he was bringing up old memories.

"When the Joker took you, that was when I realized just how much you meant to me. I could never have lived with myself if anything worse had happened to you. As I watched you on TV, all I wanted was for you to be next to me, safe and sound. When you were safe at the Manor, I watched you go through absolute torment, and it tore me apart to see you in so much pain. But when I kissed you, I could feel all those feelings leave you."

Dani's eyes watered a bit. Hearing him talk about all this at once was making her incredibly emotional.

"When you figured out that I was Batman, I was so worried that you were going to leave me. I couldn't bear it if you had done that. But then those sweet words came from your mouth and we said 'I love you' to each other. That was when I knew that I could never love anyone the way I love you. And I cannot imagine life without you."

Dani's eyed widened as he dropped down on one knee.

"Daniella Molina, will you marry me?"

Her hands flew to her mouth and she forgot how to breathe. She stared at the ring he was holding in awe and wonder, almost disbelieving that this was really happening. It just seemed so impossible for a guy like Bruce Wayne to want to marry someone like her. But she knew it was real and she loved him just as much as he loved her.

"Yes," she finally said when she found her voice again. A couple of tears sprang to her eyes as she watched him place the shining ring onto her finger.

When he stood up, she kissed him long and hard, fully realizing and accepting that Bruce Wayne and the future Daniella Wayne were going to be husband and wife.


End file.
